Eh, when I'm browsing bitcointalk my schedule isn't usually that busy--but I'm not the type of merit source who sifts through threads looking for posts to merit (though I will if I come across any).  It would drive me nuts if I clicked on random threads simply to check for meritable posts, for the reason you said, which is that the good ones are in a many-layered sandwich of shitposts.  I've had enough of that to last a lifetime.

Having a job kind of implies that you're getting paid to do something, and being a merit source is a volunteer position.  Actually some merit sources like myself didn't even volunteer.  At some point in 2019, Theymos just sent out a PM to I don't know how many members telling them that they were now merit sources and to go forth and do good for the forum. 

The merit sources that are the most "generous" are the ones who believe in the system and want it to work (and I put myself in that category).  It's supposed to impede the progress of shitposters, account farmers, and the like.  But it's also the mechanism by which members who contribute positively to the forum achieve higher ranks, and if there wasn't a lot of merit being spread around, nobody would be ranking up (and thus it would make the merit system strictly punitive).  I sure don't want it to be that way, so I try to be generous. 

I remember the days before merits and how bad the shitposting problem was, so I appreciate how it's cut the account farmers and a lot of the zero-value members off at the knees.

Oh please.  I don't know about the presence of gamers in the NFT space, but it's hardly a market populated by "art connoisseurs".  It's mostly a bunch of greedy people who want to flip NFTs to the next sucker for a profit, not people who appreciate real art.  Just search on Youtube for anything related to NFTs and the only results you'll get are about how hot the market is--and absolutely nothing about the quality of the art.  That alone should tell you something.

Lol.  It's definitely in the stupidity phase, if there is such a thing.  Lots of people are apparently making bundles of money from this crap, but that's exactly what NFTs are: Crap.  This is the closest thing to the tulip bubble I've ever seen.  You know what happened to all the Dutch people when they realized they'd gone out of their minds speculating on bulb variants and whatnot, right?  The market crashed to as close to zero as you can get.  If the NFT hysteria lasts for more than a year, I'll be very surprised.

Yeah, that's definitely the way to go in a case like this where a newbie with 38 posts and no merits wants a different username.  There's no need to petition Theymos for a change, because in all likelihood he'll just be met with silence, and he'll keep waiting for a response, and in the meantime he could have just started over by creating a new account.

That's how it is here, OP.  Very few members can get their username changed, so just make a new account.

I think you're right, but it's amazing to me that in 2021 with all the technology we have at our disposal that we're still very much dependent on oil drilling, refining, and gasoline consumption.  Solar technology is definitely available; I just think it's unaffordable for most folks, at least for the initial outlay for solar panels and whatever else is needed to power an average home.  I would imagine that once the price comes down for those things (and people wise up to the fact that solar is cheaper and better for the environment), adoption will increase.

I also get the feeling that car manufacturers and big oil companies have hindered the adoption of alternative energy sources for a long time now, though backdoor lobbying.  If you asked me for evidence of that, I couldn't provide it, but those two industries alone have so much invested in keeping people dependent on oil that it's hard to believe that their pool of enormous resources hasn't gone into buying off politicians as well as influencing public opinion.

Viva la Tesla!

I assume you've tried their chat support function?  I don't know why you're having problems with Kucoin, but they're not exactly known as an exchange that has lousy customer service (like Coinbase or *gasp* Yobit).

What exactly is your account locked for?  Did you forget your password after not logging in after a while or something?  One more question: You say you're accruing interest.  Do you have your ETH there on Kucoin's lending platform?  I'm just curious about that; it doesn't make a difference as far as your account being frozen.

I suspect you'll be able to recover your funds, because Kucoin is pretty decent.  If you do, could you please update this thread (or if there are any updates as far as their communications with you)?

I was going to ask who the last donator was who got a VIP title, but happily you answered it for me--and I wouldn't have thought it was that recently someone shelled out the 50BTC to get it.  Bitcoin was in the $2000 range at the time if I'm not mistaken, so that was by no means cheap.  Strange that Claymore did that, because apparently he/they didn't intend on using the account all that much.  Their last activity was back in 2019.

So OP, hopefully you got your answer and welcome to the forum.  To overcome those Newbie restrictions, a Copper membership is one option, but another--cheaper--one is to rank up to Jr. Member, which only takes time, some posts, and earning a single merit.  Members with sendable merits may give you one if they like your post, and the ranking system here depends on them.  See this thread for more about merits.

By the way, it's a courtesy to the forum that you lock your thread when you think it's outlived it's usefulness.  If you leave this one open for long enough, you'll keep getting the same answers over and over.  A lot of members are paid to post, so they'll just write anything.

Edit:

Oh, derp.  I didn't even see you'd written that too.

I'm still not sure if I believe this story, as it doesn't seem like something a rational, thinking person would do.  But assuming what Little Mouse said is true, you're absolutely right.  Involving another member in a silly "experiment" like this is inconsiderate at best, and then keeping silent after the other member got tagged by multiple people is reprehensible.

It would have been infinitely better had Little Mouse just not carried out that experiment, because there was nothing to gain or to really learn from it.  If that's what he did, at the very least he should have consulted RapTarX first.  LoyceV's suggestion of signing a message in advance is an even better one, because then there's undeniable proof of what the intentions were.

On a related note, I don't think RapTarX's reputation is destroyed exactly.  True, he got negged because of this, but I've never considered him a shady character.  I'm not even sure I've even looked at his feedback until now.  I've got a custom trust list, so his feedback score doesn't show up red, nor does Little Mouse's. 

What a fuck up this was.

I'm not sure whether this is due to people not liking El Salvador's native currency or if it's actually that they don't like their banks and money transmitting services.  It makes sense that their reviews are so negative for Banco Agricola and Tigo Money, since sending money through the traditional banking system takes way more time than sending bitcoin, in addition to the fact that you have to deal with middlemen.

However, that's El Salvador.  I'm not sure if the rest of the world is ready to give up using the banking system and money-sending services like Western Union or PayPal.  In the US, the dollar isn't inflating at a rate that people are desperate to switch to cryptocurrency, nor is sending money so cumbersome that they're looking for alternatives.  That could change in a heartbeat if inflation ramped up or some other economic disaster happened, but for now I'm not sure the bitcoin fever that's hit El Salvador is ready to spread.

This forum is an example of meritocracy, in case you haven't noticed.  We haven't used the WD-40 in a while and have moved on to more....sensual lubricants.  Our building is a fine brick structure with a black door and without windows.  The password for entrance is only given out to a chosen few. 

This is more than I wanted to say, but I felt compelled to.

Oh wow, no--I didn't even know that website existed!  Thanks for the link, I'm going to bookmark it for future reference because I've run into this situation many times before. 

Ah, well that explains everything I guess. 

I thought I wrote something a secret society member would write.  Maybe nobody appreciates Chuck Palahniuk anymore or hasn't heard of him, but he's an excellent author.  By the way, I'm the guy in that pic wearing black pants.  I don't know what the rest of those schmucks were thinking the day of that photo shoot.  Bunch of pansies. 

That's a true fact, and that's all you need to know.  Signing out.

Guess you're bitter about your feedback, eh?

Could you perhaps elaborate on the language change, because when I tried to view his post history I could only see a single post from 2017.  If he woke up and started posting in a local board, which one is it?  I'll un-ignore some sections to see if I can view more of hashforce101's posts, but I'd like to see evidence of him posting in a different language.

First rule of Merit Cycling Club is, you don't talk about Merit Cycling Club.

Second rule of Merit Cycling Club is, YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT MERIT CYCLING CLUB.

Third rule, if somebody says stop or goes limp, you keep pounding them in the ass.

Fourth rule, only one Fox and its merit-cycling sex toy at a time.

Fifth rule, one merit gang bang at a time, folks.

Six rule, no shirts, no shoes, no lace panties.

Seventh rule, the orgy will go on as long as it has to.

And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first time hearing of the Merit Cycling Club....you're probably not gonna be invited.

*paraphrased from the Fight Club rules*

Hell no, I'm not looking for any praise in this thread.  But nor am I here to bash you, just to give my honest thoughts about your feedback-giving habits.  I happen to respect your efforts to protect the forum from scumbags (of which there are many), but as I said I think you're overzealous with the red paint.

It's also possible to like and respect a member yet exclude them from your trust list--like the situation between you and me.  You're a good poster and, the way I see it, an asset to the forum.  Yet I've excluded you from my trust list simply because I don't think you're using the trust system properly in a lot of cases.  That's a lot different than not trusting you to be honest if we did a deal together, but I'm sure you know that.

I don't know....what about ETH going PoS?  That's a coin without a cap and yet it's currently #2 to bitcoin's #1 status.  And yeah, there are other PoS coins that are super risky but others that have decent potential and sorta-stable prices (like Polkadot and Tezos for example).  Anyway, all of those coins have some value, and you can earn what amounts to interest on them, so you do receive real income by holding them.

Yeah, and I remember a time when PayPal was actually paying interest on funds held with them, and it was something like 4%.  That was way back in 2006 or so, and my how times have changed.

Yes I did.  That doesn't mean I'm guaranteeing merits to anyone who PMs me, and I don't think I have to make a whole bunch of disclaimers to that offer, such as the fact that I reserve the right to refuse certain members based on factors I believe make them unworthy of being merited.  So there you have it.

Only thick-skinned people with tough constitutions survive here for years; that's what I've observed.  And most important lessons learned in life usually have an element of harshness attached.  But more importantly, newcomers to bitcointalk who start creating a big presence right away are more often than not viewed with severe skepticism, if not outright hostility.  Why?  Because they're the ones who usually came here to start earning money as soon as they can, and they're the ones who break the rules most frequently and waste other members' time, because they have to sniff out plagiarism or alt accounts, report posts, give out negative trust, etc. 

In short, most newbies like you are a huge pain in the ass.  High maintenance and low value.  Not all newbies are like that, of course, but the ones who make it up the ranks are the exception, not the rule.

I couldn't even name one--I'm not a gamer, but I don't even remember seeing any such thing mentioned here before, much less a request for a section devoted to blockchain-based games (whether NFT-related or not).

OP, JeromeTash linked to some threads for requests for new sections about NFTs, and those have all been ignored by Theymos.  I hate to tell you, but he's going to ignore your suggestion as well.  I can't speak for him (though I just did), but I'm fairly certain that he's not going to be creating any new sections anytime soon.  The last two, aside from local boards, were Serious Discussion and Ivory Tower, and honestly those could be eliminated without affecting the forum in any way.  I forget why they were even made, and I'm not sure how they're faring.

I'm not saying this in a combative way: Do you know that for sure?  I know I've seen evidence of it in the past, but is that an unwritten rule that mods follow?  Would the fact that both posts were quoted here make any difference?  I don't think Magicalking would earn a permaban for duplicating his own posts, but it might earn him some sort of sanction.

Oh, and I've blocked both of these members' PMs, as I don't feel like reading any of their BS.

Your good friend might be philosophically correct, but that line of thinking is a great excuse for doing nothing about anything, and I'm not having any of it.

OK, so about 3 days ago I wrote this in this thread:

And now here we are with bitcoin at around $55k.  This is exactly why I never underestimate how wild bitcoin's price swings can be, and in this particular case that volatility is a happy thing--and my doubt about it hitting a new ATH this year has lessened somewhat, though I still don't think it's likely.

I'm also sticking with my opinion that bitcoin moving above $63k by year's end would put it in bubble territory.  So while everyone around here would be jumping for joy (and I'd probably at least be moving up and down on my heels), I'm not exactly hoping it'll happen.  Too much, too soon is a real danger signal in any market.

I don't see any logic in the above statement, i.e., a cause and effect.  Athletes looking to connect with their fans?  Are you kidding?  They're looking to make money, nothing more, nothing less--and so are those "fans" who buy these garbage NFTs.  I could probably come up with dozens of ways sports stars could connect with fans within a half hour, and none of them would include creating digital blockchain pictures that idiots think are so unique that they're worth outrageous sums of money.

Well isn't that the whole point of an NFT, that the blockchain ensures that the "thing" is unique and authentic?  How much research can one do to figure that out?