Yes, and I've been saying that for a long time now.  OP, I'd do what LoyceV said and keep bumping your application now and then, because unless Theymos has plans to let the merit system just die off quietly he's got to replace any merit sources that become inactive (which they're eventually going to do given enough time).

Just from my post history review offer and the recent thread I started about it, I can tell you that there are plenty of decent posts going unmerited and plenty of members who really should be ranking up but who aren't because they aren't earning enough merits.  More merit sources=more eyeballs on posts, so it's a pretty simple equation.

And Theymos, I need more sMerits!!

Somebody slap me hard whenever I decide to make a boneheaded move like not locking a thread like this immediately after its creation.

In addition to running out of sMerits and having my inbox blow up all day long, I'm finding that I'm wasting time reading posts by people who have no business asking for merits.  You might think you've got nothing to lose by asking for a review, but I've rapidly arrived at the point where I'm taking it personally that my time is being wasted.

Therefore, if you're posting just to get paid and don't put any effort into your shitty-English posts, don't ask me for a review.  I'm not even going to PM those members back with suggestions on how to improve, and their PMs will in fact be blocked.

That said, when I do get more sMerits I will pick up where I left off, which is with a list roughly 10 members long whose posts I have yet to review.  If you send me a PM after reading this, the list will probably have grown much longer, so be patient.

*slowly backs away, closing door behind him*

*Wow*

As an aside, I hadn't read that thread, but I was just thinking the other day that there are going to be young people right now who've only known a world where bitcoin exists--and if that girl's story is indeed true, she's one of them.

To the topic at hand, I don't think a negative is warranted though I think a neutral is essential, just as it would be for any other account discovered to have changed hands. 

I'm not exactly sure what you're saying here, but if your point is to be skeptical of claims like the one we're talking about, I think we all should.  A hacker or account buyer could easily use an excuse like this one--but I'm not sure about this girl.  Something about the post just seems genuine to me, and I don't see any reason why someone who hacked or bought the account would need to write something like that.  Sure, there's a negative trust from 2017, but I skimmed through the reference thread and didn't see anything that jumped out at me.

Anyway like I said, neutral trust is appropriate here and for any case like it, not a neg.

Geez, I don't remember what happened between us at all.  I'm guessing it might have been when you were new, prior to the merit system when I was always on edge due to my fight with account sellers and shitposters.  My apologies, because whatever it was about, you stuck around and became a solid member of the forum. 

I've also mellowed out somewhat since 2019 due to various RL stuff or perhaps just with age or changes in the level of drama on the forum.  But thanks for voting against my name change request, fucknut.  *lol*

And not for nothing, but I'm burning through my earned sMerits like crack in Charlie Sheen's hands, so I'm hoping the almighty T will grant me some more.  Seems like everyone on the forum has tuned into this thread, which is a good thing as long as I have enough love to spread around.

I fully support that option rather than having PMs blocked by default for newbies--and the reason I say that is because I've often seen brand new accounts created in order to ask for specific information that's not spammy or related to buying/selling things.  Since new accounts are already restricted as far as how often they can post, I think it's important for them to be able to receive PMs if they want to.

Aside from that, new accounts don't necessarily make themselves targets of scams as far as I know.  I'm not sure if I've even seen a case where a newcomer has reported that they've received a PM that's resulted (or could have resulted) in a scam.  Sure, it's a possibility, but I'm not sure it's a problem that needs to be obviated by imposing more restrictions on new accounts.

Awwww.....you don't have to smooch my gluteus that hard.  

I reviewed your post history and would have given you 50 merits for the month anyway, so I decided to just give them all to you in one shot.  I also did that for a couple of others already--but there have already been cases where I've had to tell members to improve their post quality.  This is no charity I'm running here, y'all understand?  I'm trying to be as generous as possible, but if you know anything about me you should know that I've got standards and I detest shitposters.

Yay!  Awesome, man. 

Also, as an FYI, I gave 50 merits to Mr.right85's post above instead of meriting each one of his posts for this month individually, which from the looks of his history, I would have been doing.  I'm just taking a shortcut, which saves me time and achieves the same result with no harm done.  Glad I could be of service to each of you, and keep up the good work.

Lol.  I'm not sure if you're actually talking about leaning left-wing or right-wing in terms of politics, but if so you've got that pretty much backwards (though I'm an advocate of live-and-let-live and just don't like hearing about how others are living, if you know what I mean).

I got about a zillion requests for post reviews since I started this thread, and I'm backed up at the moment but plan on starting reviews after drinking some coffee.  Please be patient if you've requested a review; I will get to you soon--and in general, give me at least a day or so and then remind me if I haven't given you merits or replied to your PM with a reason as to why I didn't give you any.

And Theymos, if you happen to be reading this: I've already run out of source merits and am dipping into my earned ones.  Maybe you could increase my allocation?  Thanks, bud.

Say what, now?  Is you or is you not a merit sauce?  I demand an answer!

This has been brought up before if my memory serves me correctly--in the context of the Chipmixer campaign, maybe.  But I'm pretty sure what you're describing isn't a big deal at all unless you really are trying to curry favor with the member you're meriting.  Personally I wouldn't merit the OP of an ANN thread, because it just doesn't seem like the correct use of merits, but members are free to merit whatever they like.  Hell, the merit system isn't even monitored that closely anymore by the forum watchdogs.  It used to be that there were tons of threads about merit abusers in Reputation, but nowadays you don't see much of that.

It looks like most people have written much the same thing: if you want to merit a post in an ANN thread, go right ahead.  I'd say even if you're a merit source it's OK, because you've probably got some sMerits that you've earned on top of your monthly allocation. 

Run free and merit what you will, my child.  The world is your oyster.

Wait, what?  MSTR isn't a hedge fund, it's....some kind of software company if I'm not mistaken, one that happened to have a bitcoin zealot as CEO.  I kept writing in the other thread about MSTR that he could very well be booted by the board of directors, and I think that's likely what happened.  Be skeptical about what press releases say, because companies can and do make up all sorts of bullshit when something important like a CEO being removed happens.

Exactly.  I'm not sure what kind of communication MSTR has with their shareholders, but I bet the big ones--mutual funds, hedge funds, and the like--probably made some noise about all of Saylor's bitcoin purchases.  After all, buying a notoriously volatile asset to hold in place of cash probably wasn't in MSTR's mission statement. 

Wow.  I shouldn't be surprised, but I am (and I didn't even see this thread until just now).

My man, I am touched--truly--every time you call me by my preferred moniker.  I had long given up hope of a name change, so much so that it actually surprised me when I saw your post.  I doff my hat to you, sir.

Theymos, Theymos....won't you please reconsider my cry for help?

You should have a problem with account sales if bitcointalk means anything at all to you, because there's nothing good that comes from an account changing hands.  The new owner could leverage the previous owner's reputation to scam someone; they could be an account farmer or a bounty hunting shitposter who's going to leave a trail of nonsense posts all over the place, and probably more, too.

Nice research on this one.  When I pulled up this dude's post history, I could only see some posts from 2015 and one from 2019, but there's definitely been a change in writing style.  Some might argue that it's not proof an account changed hands, but to them I say: it's more than enough for me to tag someone

Which I just did.  Account buyers and sellers are all in need of a nice red paint job.

I'm posting this in Meta based on actmyname's thread from 2018, which is quite similar to this one.  If there's a better section, I request the mods either move it or tell me where to move it to.

I've offered to review members' post histories a number of times in various threads, and based on my experience with doing it I wanted to formally write out some things that I find myself repeating in PMs:

I.  The offer is open to any member below Legendary rank and only those who don't already have enough merits to reach Legendary.

II.  You just need to send me a simple PM asking for a review, and I'll be happy to do it.  You don't need to be humble and apologize for doing so--believe me, if I thought anyone was wasting my time I'd tell them, and I wouldn't have even offered to do these reviews in the first place.

III.  When you PM me, please list the specific sections you post in, especially any of the altcoin sections, the gambling ones, Bitcoin Discussion, and Speculation.  I have a lot of sections on ignore, so when I'm doing reviews I have to un-ignore sections in order to merit any posts within them (hey Theymos, could you change that by any chance??).  Just write something like this (don't worry about capitalization and the like):

1. Speculation
2. Altcoin (mining)
3. Altcoin (speculation)
4. Trading discussion

You only need to do it once, as I'll save your original PM.  Note: I don't review posts in any of the local boards.

IV.  You can request a review once every 30 days at the most.  That's because there's a limit of 50 merits per member per month that can be given out, and oftentimes I do end up handing out a full 50.

V.   I make no guarantees that you'll be given any merit at all, much less 50 at a clip.  If I think your posts are sub-par, I'll usually give you a suggestion or two as far as ways to make your posts stand out.  But basically what I look for is thought and effort, not length.  I can assure you, I've been reading posts from bounty hunter spamming shitposters for years and can recognize a bloated load of nonsense within a few seconds.  Grammar and correct use of the English language help, but I'm looking for posts that took some effort and had some thought put into them, so don't worry if English isn't your primary language--you definitely don't have to be perfect, just clear enough such that your post can be understood.

VI.  If you PM me with a request and it's clear you haven't read my rules (especially III above), you're asking me for another review in less than 30 days, you should have known your posts are complete wads of shitty asswipe, or in any other way prove to me that you're a bonehead even before I take a look at what you've written, I not only reserve the right to refuse a review with no response whatsoever, I might just ignore you, block your PMs, or even report some of your shitposts.  

VII.  Please don't send me a reminder PM if I obviously haven't done a review for you within a few days, a week, or even two weeks or more.  I've been getting more requests than I can handle with the amount of sMerits I'm allocated, and Theymos refuses to increase said allocation.  If you send me a request and I'm unable to give you merits because I'm out, your PM will stay in my inbox until I get to it.

Please, one of my berzerk buttons is people who waste my time.  If you do that, keep in mind that I'm the type of man who bears a grudge.
_______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________

So those are my basic rules.  I'm going to leave this thread open in case anyone wants to make comments, suggestions, or anything else.  I don't need people to thank me; I'm a merit source, and I do this to keep the system working because I believe in it and know what the forum was like before Theymos created it.  I'd actually be grateful for any critical feedback.

I'd argue that only one of those things is a position--the merit source "job".  DT members aren't expected to do anything whatsoever, aside from continuing to leave accurate feedback and basically being honest in their dealings on and off the forum (wasn't there a DT member who was removed because he was sent to jail for credit card fraud?  I can't remember his name, but it was a couple of years ago).  But if you're picked to be a merit source, it's expected that you're going to actively distribute merits, be fair, and not abuse or misuse the system.  If you don't give out any merits, I'm pretty sure Theymos would remove you--therefore, unlike being a DT member, you can't just do nothing.

I don't agree with that at all.  There are plenty of trustworthy members who aren't on DT, and there were even more before Theymos changed DT to a rotating system.  Aside from that, someone just has to demonstrate that they have an interest in keeping the merit system running smoothly and can show they have a good eye for quality posts.  There's no need whatsoever for a potential merit source to be on DT.

That shouldn't be surprising at all, given that the US is headed toward bankruptcy after decades of kicking the can down the road with respect to the debt it carries and all of the boneheaded decisions that were made since the banking/housing crisis of 2008.

They're hiring lots of new IRS agents (that's what I've heard), which tells me that they're either going to ramp up enforcement or increase their surveillance of US citizens--or both.  The problem is that people who live in the US are already taxed to death, and on top of that prices of pretty much everything are skyrocketing. 

The government needs to seriously trim the fat instead of bleeding its citizens, which I consider a legal form of robbery and I know I'm not alone.  There's simply too much government and too much spending.  But do you really think any of that's going to change with a democrat in office?

I get the feeling a lot of members feel the same way as you do, i.e., a little bit intimidated by older members here.  You're going to feel however you're going to feel, but my advice is to treat everyone here as your equal.  When I joined the forum, I came in with the attitude of "fuck this place, and fuck these idiots".  Many of my early posts were deleted, probably for trolling, and it took a bit for me to settle in and actually grow a lasting fondness for bitcointalk.  But believe me, if you speak your mind you'll probably gain a bit of respect even if people don't care for what you've got to say.  Being respectful to others is a good attribute as well, assuming the respect is deserved--oftentimes it isn't.

Having said that, I wouldn't barge into the technical & development section and roll around with a cigar in my mouth like I'm a boss (LOL).  I know the limits of my knowledge and also know where to tread carefully.  Humility is admirable IMO, and it's appropriate in certain circumstances here, but I think what's even more important is to have a thick skin and to give solid, well-reasoned opinions and information.

Take everything I just said with a baseball-sized nugget of salt.  I've been out in the sun too long today digging holes in the ground.

There isn't any correlation, but Timelord2067 has been known to exhibit a weird form of pareidolia when it comes to forum-related associations, so maybe DT and merit sources being lumped in together is an extension of that.  No offense, Timelord2067; I know I'm not the only one who's noticed that trait, nor am I the first to have mentioned it in a thread.

So who are these members who are demanding to be removed from DT?  I've read about people clearing their trust lists (which I've recently done), but aside from marlboroza a while back I haven't seen any such demands.  Could have missed it, though.

In any case, I wouldn't even care if a DT member-merit source got booted from the DT list by the community.  As long as they're handing out merits appropriately and not abusing the system, they should stay merit sources.  Think about how many sources we have now and how long it takes for members to rank up.  If you started removing sources simply because they wanted off the DT list, it'd throw a monkey wrench in the merit machine that might be hard to fix.

That's interesting--are you saying there are places in the community where people can go to charge their phones with solar or gas-powered generators or that individuals own and use them?  Either way, it sounds like the places you're talking about don't have the most reliable power grid, if there's a grid at all.

You described the people you want to help as basically subsistence farmers, living off the land.  If that's true, I doubt they'd be able to do any of those tasks if they haven't had much of an education.  That said, I don't have a clue about what level of education they have; I'm just making an assumption.  I also seriously doubt anyone in a first world country is going to provide steady, reliable work like translation or spell-checking to strangers in a third world country.  That's just reality--especially since there are tools for both of those things readily available on the internet.

And if those farmers in Africa receive a micropayment of bitcoin, is there a good way for them to convert it to their local currency or to spend it?  Most exchanges that deal in fiat have minimum transaction amounts, which might be prohibitive in a scenario like you've proposed.

By the way, don't most people use smartphones nowadays, as opposed to the old-school flip phones?  I've read about MPesa in the context of the gambling problem among youth in Kenya, and from what I gather they're using their phones to place bets.  You can't do that easily with anything other than a smartphone.

Eh, some people are here just to do business, which appears to be the case with OP.  This wacky community we have is probably as diversified as any forum around, for better or worse.

Look at you being all generous.  I might have done the same had I stumbled across this thread before you did, but we'll never know. 

OP, if you've got all the answers you're looking for (and it appears you got even more info than what you requested), please lock this thread using the button on the bottom left hand corner.  If you don't, this thread is going to fill up with useless responses *not like mine* that'll keep it going on and on when it doesn't need to.  Best of luck to you.

Lol....lol....lol.   Sure, if I could have remembered that Theymos had said something so concise and relevant to the statement I made back in 2018, I would have gladly read his post.  

What is in your skull, my man?  I think you have like 100x more neurons than the average bitcointalker (and that would mean about 1000x more than me).  Props to you, brainy-brain.  Perhaps I will take the easier path and just dump 50 merits at a clip if I see a decent month's worth of posts.  If anybody has any objections, please keep them to yourself--or go complain to Theymos.  I am sure you'll get a prompt and satisfactory response.