As a self confessed beginner, you should move this thread onto the beginners board as has been suggested.

Read as much as you can to learn about Bitcoin, and stick to discussions on the beginners board. If you don't understand something, then you can always ask a question, but use the search function first. If you ask too may basic questions that have many associated explanations here already, then you run the risk of picking up a reputation as a promotion chaser with sig spamming aspirations.

This forum is a wonderful source of information about Bitcoin and crypto, and there are some great discussions that will help you to take advantage of the emerging crypto economy.

You guys are not looking at the whole picture. Yes, supply and demand contribute to the price movements, but the reported prices are based on exchange trading, and do not include peer-to-peer and local bitcoin trades. For example, one of the mining companies sells blocks of Bitcoin to an ATM service. These transactions are not included in the trading stats, and do not affect the price. Similarly local exchanges in countries with problem currencies can be made at premiums of several hundred pounds, and this reflects a demand shortage of course,but it is not included in the international statistics.

Another factor is reported whale movements, and these may not be real trades, or may just be made to create bear or bull squeezes in a low volume market. Chart predictions can also be self-fulfilling, as traders rush to take advantage of the prophecy

Are people still talking about merit?  Well I guess it is an anagram of "remit" , so it will continue to be a hot topic.

I find the ignore button is best to avoid personal attacks. That way the attacker is just shouting into the wind. I think "shouting" may not be the correct word though.

That parsimonious old bugger Jet Cash didn't get a source increase. Serves him right for not being active in his Fit to Talk English project, and for moaning about the poor post quality here.

That isn't the purpose of the merit system It is here to reward and encourage good posting, not to make people feel good by giving away undeserved merits. Promoting bad posters blocks the regrowth of the forum as a serious discussion platform. It's also the reason that I think sigs should only be allowed for members and above.

This wasn't a very good topic to start, as it's been done so many times in the past. Your opening post wasn't particularly helpful either, and yet it has received 2 merits. The awarder is a senior member who is trying to sell his account, and this award may have made your account toxic, and reduced your ability to receive merits in the future. This is my feeling on the matter, I'd be interested to see if others agree.

I've never used it or liked it. As the kids that built it grow up and move away, will the next generation start to use it? It seems to have been getting a lot of criticism recently, and I believe the share price of the FAANG stocks are dropping rapidly. Hopefully we are entering a new era.

Checking new applications is becoming too time consuming, and every day I have to check several applications from spammers.

The project was started to help Bitcoin Talk members to improve their English, and it is only open to members of the Bitcoin Talk forum. New members are still welcome, but in future they will have to send a PM to this account, and request a membership. That will ensure that they are active members of the forum, and help me to spend my time more productively.

I started reading your opening post, and I struggled through the English, I skipped the first image, but when I saw you say that you are a merit "winner", and I saw that your  stats didn't confirm this, and the second completely irrelevant image appeared, I skipped to the reply button.

If you really want to become a merit winner, I would suggest you read a few of the many threads containing advice, forget about images and formatting, and work on your English.

It would be a Visa card that converts merit into fiat of course

Ranking is still driven by activity. Merit was introduced as a barrier to prevent the abuse of activity ranking. This is quite an important distinction, and members need to realise that merit is not a ranking tool, but a rank prevention tool. Understanding this will help you to increase your rank by optimising your activity and posting quality.

Of course you can ignore the whole concept of ranking, and just enjoy the community interaction here, and utilise the free exchange of information.

The greatest inconvenience with the ranking system is that people keep asking about it

I'd love a sub-board for crypto domain names. It's an active area, and in keeping with the aims of the forum. Digital goods is no use, as it tends to be full of spam and unrelated items.

Two or three dudes hanging out in a basement sounds like a great idea. Many major projects and businesses started like that.

154 activity and 230+ posts, and you haven't received a single merit. It is obviously hard for spambies to gain merit, and that's the way it should be.

Were I to be in your position, I would lock this thread, and hope that it drops away before too many people notice it.

That is true, but the other aspect is the possibility of translating a good topic into English, and thus provide it for the benefit of the bulk of the members of Bitcoin Talk. This was my motivation in offering a guarantee minimum of 5 merits for the starter of a good translated topic on an English board. Google translate is not adequate for this, and this is why the post creator was offered help with the translation.

Thanks for mentioning the Fit to Talk English project.

Most of the whitepapers relating to crypto are written in English, so the lack of a passing knowledge is a barrier to a full undertanding of the crypto world. The Oxford/Elite control the banking world, and much of the world economy, and English is the lingua franca there. The European Union does not have a common language, and it suffers from this. Now that the UK is leaving their clutches, I believe that they are considering the use of English as their primary language. Most merit sources are English speakers with limited time to read the boards, this means that posts written in fluid English are more likely to be read, and thus they are more likely to receive merit.

The Fit to Talk project seems to wax and wane in interest, and at the moment it seems to be increasing in activity. The more members who take advantage of it, the more use it is to the active participants, and the more likely senior Bitcoin Talk members are to help people with their English.

There are two aspects to this.

You stay within the confines of your local board, and seek to gain merits from a restricted supply.
You can improve your English, and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge and help on the English language boards.

These options are not mutually exclusive, and many "international" members are evidence of this. I started the Fit to Talk English project to help Bitcoin Talk members take advantage of the Bitcoin economy, and the primary language for communication in that is English.

It might be fair, but it's created an awful lot of wind.

Bitcoin Talk needs to bifurcate. Send the altcoins, bounty, ICO and the spammers down one fork, and let Bitcoin and crypto enthusiasts have the other.