You have left out the results of the debt slavery created by the banking elite. You also leave out the side effects of the drugs that big pharma are pushing onto healthy people.

A "dead cat bounce" is a rise in the share price of a worthless stock, and it is caused by profit taking by bears. It is not a part of the trading in an asset with value.

I see newbies get most merits from other newbies and juniors. That would tend to confirm the spambie promotions of alts and bots. This is another reason for being extra careful when awarding them with merits.

I get so tired of reading this rubbish. Do your really think that I go through a thread reading the posters column, and only read a post if I see a certain rank in the poster profile? When I look through a thread, I read the replies, and I ignore everything else, including the signatures. If a post ticks my merit box, then I'll have a look at the poster details, and I might then check to see if any sMerits he picks up will get distributed in the underworld. That's really the only thing that will make me change my mind about awarding merits.

I'll think about this. I was thinking about opening up Fit to Talk to non Bitcoin Talk members, and maybe this could be beneficial to the forum. I discourage bounty hunting, and I am primarily interested in the use of crypto-currencies in disadvantaged countries. Of course most of the populations in these countries do not have English as their first language. However, many of them are intelligent and crypto aware, perhaps they could become useful members.

I'm not sure that it was unlucky. Those of us who managed to get the merits to become legendaries have a sense of achievement. Maybe we should call them super-heroes. Now that the new merits system has become the old merit system as a result of the improvements. It is difficult to differentiate between "merited" legendaries and "senior" legendaries.

I understand that there is a difference between inbound links and reciprocal links. I believe that "backlinks" are links back to a referring site, and Google tends to deprecate them. A link to Bitcoin Talk in a comment on my Q&A site without a link from BT is unlikely to help the Q&A site, but it can add a drop of "link juice" to Bitcoin Talk.

btw - Google has moved on from simple Page Ranking, and they are using some more sophisticated methods of evaluation.

Well you must be a magician, because it looks as if you can post with an inactive account, or maybe you are referring to another account. If this is the case, then you will need to post a few details.

I'll sign up at those sites later, and I'll post a review. Maybe a few more of us should do this.

I think that one useful thing would be for beginners asking questions to make their threads self-moderating. They could then delete the spam posts, and turn their threads into really useful resources. Please avoid starting threads about bounty, ICOs, or other underworld topics on the beginners' board. I know it may be a bit daunting for a new member to consider deleting posts, but the spam bots are not going to penalise you for it.

Another really useful trick is to close the thread once you question has been answered. This will avoid it becoming a spamfest as the spammers keep repeating the previously posted answers.

I think this thread should be in services

But not always for the general good - look at banking for example. If banking hadn't been self-regulating, then Bitcoin would never have been created.

If you change your signature to promote your new project, then the constant bumping of your old threads will promote the new project.

Incompetent and lazy people always blame others for their poverty and lack of success. This forum has more members trying to help people than any other forum I can think of. Note the use of the word "trying", it's water, horses and drinking again, I've stopped trying to help thirsty asses, and spend time with the members who make their own way to the water holes.

They have greater knowledge because they interacted and communicated. Sadly the bulk of new members aren't interested in interaction and the acquisitionof knowledge. All they want to do is to stick boring repetitive fly posters all over the boards.

I don't understand what is stopping you from starting your own thread.

As Jet Cash I've been awarded over 700 merits since the system was implemented. I read a load of comments about getting merits because posters were senior members, so I thought I would try an experiment. I registered Talk Merit, and timed it to optimise the activity system. and I managed to pick up 28 activities in under 2 days. I was then limited by the 14 activity periods, and managed to pick up 10 merits during the time it took to get the required activity for member level. That must be about the fastest time possible to go from "brand new" to member. I didn't announce it was an alt of Jet Cash until I had gained the 10 merits. JetAid was announced as an alt at the time of registration. I didn't try to optimise the activity in this case, but it has still managed to pick up enough merit to become a member when it has gained enough activity.

Of course I have a couple of big advantages. I am English and English is my natural language. I have also been an active member of the forum for 3 years or so, and I have a major interest in Bitcoin, and world economic systems. But I think that my major advantage is that I see Bitcoin Talk as crypto community, and a mutual help and discussion forum. I do not think of it as a cash cow to be milked even when the teats are dry or sore.

When a new member joins Bitcoin Talk he has a choice. He can take the left hand path along the rocky road of bounties. or he can travel the right hand road to green pastures and prosperity with Bitcoin. Some members are able to travel along both paths, but they have usually started on the Bitcoin road, and earned some strong boots to protect them as they walk on the sharp flints of the bounties.

That type of post is the sort of rubbish you have to face as a merit source. The guy obviously hasn't read the original post, and doesn't understand the merit system, or the role of a merit source. He has filled it with a visual cacophony of images which are not relevant to activities as a merit source. He filled the thread with no consideration for the bandwidth or restrictions of readers using mobile phones, or those who voluntarily scan threads hoping to find posts that are merit worthy.

I've put the guy on ignore, and I'm doing the same for anyone who awards that dreadful graffiti with merit.

The accumulation of merit is not that important to me. What is important is gaining a feel for the community opinion of my actions. Merit is one way to judge this, what is probably better is constructive comments, especially if that allow me to modify my actions or opinins.

You guys still don't seem to have grasped the purpose of the merit system. Once again, it is NOT a ranking tool - activity is the driving force behind ranking. Merit is a system to encourage quality posting, and it is indepenent of rank. Legendaries need merits in the same way as new members - it is a quality rating of posting activity by the community, and it provides valuable feedback to the poster.

In view of the large number of spammy low value posts, it was determined that a ranking barrier should be created, and this is the merit system. If the community has not indicated approval for a member's posts, then the poster will have to accept restrictions on the benefits of membership. The needs of a member are not relevant, the sole consideration should be his value to the community.