I am definitely a fan of MEW.  It works really well and lets you keep track of many other tokens as well.  Just make sure you keep your keys confidential and you should not have any issues.

I am invested in several masternode coins and wish I had the finances to get into several more.  The rewards can be lucrative depending on the asset and they allow you to grow your portfolio without adding additional funds once you have them setup.  Good luck in your investments.

I dont believe that anyone wants to kill it...they just want to regulate it and to be honest, get their piece of the pie.  With all of the scams and fraud that is out there, it is not a bad thing to have some regulation in the industry. 

So looking at the list I posted before of members that have given the top merit, I went and looked at the top profile and found their signature link to reach below.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2827596.msg28975211#msg28975211


I am not sure if I really agree with that approach either.  Giving someone merit because they were so close to ranking up but only if you were above Full member status in the beginning.  Just another reason why I am not really found of our new merit system.  To me, this kinda seems like the "good ole boys" network.  Oh well, it is something we have to live with so hopefully it truly works out in the long run the way we all want it to, with better quality posts.

Interesting stat I just found.  Probably found by others and posted before but I think it is beneficial to see who gives out the most smerit. 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topsendat

I definitely agree that no one user should have to beg for merit but it has came to this scenario because not everyone is awarding the merit they have.  I have seen countless posts go unrewarded that were very deserving, answered the question completely or created a very stimulating topic of conversation.  I have received 2 merit points for 1 post which gave me 1 smerit.  I awarded that on a post that I thought was deserving.  Now we have people with smerit asking users to go back and find what they thought were good "old" posts and link them to a page in order to possibly give merit.  This is a good idea but it also does lead to people further begging for merit.  Sure I wish that I had more merit, not only to rank up but then I would also have more smerit to give to deserving posters. 

You will not be able to rank up to Member status until you achieve 10 merit points.  I am in the same position.  I just moved above 60 activity but will not get promoted to the next rank until I achieve 10 merit points.  So far, I have earned 2 merit points and given away the 1 that I had for a post that I thought was valuable.  Good luck.

Depending on the type of miners that you want to use, it can be very profitable for coins now.  Asic of course give the best returns.

I too have invested in Cardano and am holding at this point.  Definitely a good time to get in right now with the lower price.  Good luck.

Definitely not a fan of pump and dump groups because there is always someone that loses and most of the time that is the person that is drawn in from the outside.  Sure it is nice to make money but it is not worth it when you deliberately try to do it at the expense of an inexperienced person.

My only recommendation would have been to at least give someone that did not have sMerit to give a few in case they found a post worthy of merit.  I know in the past few days since it has been implemented, I have saw some quality posts but was unable to give any merit because I had none to start with.  Now that I have earned a few merit, I have sMerit to give and will do so when I come across a quality post.  To me, a quality post does not have to be a book but can in fact be a short few sentences as long as it is on point and answers the question at hand or makes a valid point.  I do see where giving this sMerit in the beginning to folks that did not have any could be abused but that is likely with any system unfortunately.  There is always going to be people trying to take shortcuts to the system or take advantage of it.

While I might not totally agree with the idea of Merit on the forum now, I wish something like this would have been done previously to get everyone looking for ways to get rid of the scammers and spammers.  Previously, since it really did not affect everyone, no one tried to "police" the forum other than moderators when they had the time.  Now that merit is in place and it affects pretty much everyone trying to build up in the ranks, we have so many people looking and finding scams/spams/etc.  If we could all just collaborate to make this a better forum, everything would work smoother in the long run. 

Nice post BitCoinHodler.  If I had merit to give I would have given you some for it.

So far the market has been up and down in 2018 which has allowed investors to get in on some cheap alt coins.  Some of my personal favorites at this time are XLM, VEN, ADA, EOS, KMD.  Depending on the type of investor that you are, a hodler or day trader, you can make good profit doing both as long as you put in the time necessary and research a lot about the coins you are interested in.  I personally like to research the coin, see how I feel about the project and make sure the developer is active.  Good luck in 2018!

Thank you pokerowned.  I sent you a PM with my details.  Just advise if there is anything else I need to do.  Thanks again.

I have sent you coins from cryptopia.  All of my details are in a PM to you. 

I just applied for the drop as well.  I run several different masternodes at this time and perform cpu mining.  Hopefully I am chosen as well.  Thanks for the heads up about this one TimC.

I am definitely for all improvements to the forum and getting rid of spam posts.  I just wish it started after the next rank up period as I was set to become a member with activity of 60.  Thanks again for trying to make this a better system.

Correct you are in having JR Member ranks ending.  Any reason or publication to this?  Definitely don't agree with this but I will just keep posting and reading.  It will screw up the airdrop I was apart of as I had to be a JR Member on here.

Definitely hold during this lull in the actiin.  I believe the market will soon recover...actually now is a good time to buy into coins you were interested in as the price can be cheap.  Good luck.