Merit was not created for rank improvement. In fact the reverse is true, as merit ws created to block upranking, and activity is the engine for rank improvement. Merit was created as a barrier to restrict the advancement of the unworthy. Unfortunately most of the unworthy are noisy pollutants, and as a result of their actions, advancement is slowed for the worthy but unnoticed.

I quite often edit my posts for typing or other errors, but I suspect that this isn't the issue here. The problem is associated with the deletion of merited posts. If an account is sold, and the purchaser edits merited posts, then this could give a false impression of approval for the new post by a merit source.

With well over 400 posts, and only six merits, it would appear that making posts of reasonable quality and of benefit to the forum is quite difficult for you in fact.

Crop cultivation and farming was the greatest invention of man. Far more so than fire or the wheel, as it allowed man to spend time thinking, discussing and building communities, and not being forced to survive as a hunter gatherer.

Global warming is a bit of a myth, as the evidence seems to support the fact that we are entering into a new ice age. These are part of the natural cycles of the solar system, and this will cause some major problems and redistribution of wealth.

So what will be the most important industries? Probably the control of pollution and the protection of wealth and advantage. The other two major industries will be the expansion of the current global eugenics projects, and the extension of life for the elites.

I can see why you are still a spambie. Colour changes are really annoying ,and they disrupt the text flow for those of us who have to read through the threads quickly. Unfortunately for those of you who would prefer to spend more time messing with the text format, instead of researching the topic and reading the thread, most of the fast readers are the members who are merit awarders.

Mods don't have a quota of deletions to fill (it is mainly the mods and not the admins who delete posts ). However, bounty spammers do have quotas of posts to inflict on the forum, and because of the high probability that many of their posts will be deleted,they have to exceed their quota by a significant margin to compensate for this.

I agree, but we could still combine similar topics into one longer thread. This would preserve the diversity of topics on the Meta board. An excess of threads about one topic, however important, reduces the discussions about longer term improvements.

Unfortunately that isn't true. "everybody" ( ie the spambies ) are creating redundant threads which are just re-hashes of the same basic concepts or bits of information. This thread is just one example. It is starting to become really annoying, and if it continues, I suspect that the admins will have to introduce even stricter posting rules to preserve some of the boards in the forum.

One quality post is better for the forum than 100 no-value spam posts. Unfortunatelu, bounty managers are not interested in the welfare of the forum, and I suspect that they consider the exposure from 100 spam posts to be 100 times better than a single quality post.

I think we all include URLs, and hopefully they are relevant to the thread topic.

This spambie posted a link to a YouTube video about a coin ( I assume ), and it was not relevant to the thread topic.

I don't know if you are an alt, or a genuine new member, but you do seem to have a focus on the merit system. I think you should put this behind you - it is so passé. Shitposts are made by spambies to scratch a few alt coins ( that they may not receive), and it seems to create a myopic approach to Bitcoin Talk. It is far better to use the forum to improve your knowledge and skills.

I agree that Bitcoin Talk is not as "popular" as it used to be, and there is a simple reason for this, many of the former members have moved on, and this may be as a result of the struglle to get a decent discussion started and maintained.

If you have been here for 3 months, and you don't understand the merit system, then you are really in the wrong forum.

If mods delete the bad posts, then the spammers won't make their quotas, and they wont get paid. It a simple solutiion, and could lead to the emigration of the parasites.

Donald Trump is the inspiration for the Bitcoin Talk merit system.

Merit was introduced to encourage the recognition of good posting. Unfortunately most members do not realise that by banging out any old word sequence in order to meet sig spamming requirements, it makes it harder for sources to find meritable posts, and thus stops the spammers from improving their ranks and their the earnings. If you have an activity of 50 or more, and you haven't been able to pick up any merit, then you need to stop bounty hunting, and start to make positive contributions to the community.

I've got two streaks in the first list, and no streaks on any of the individual boards. I guess that shows what an erratic personality I have. I should focus on some areas in the Bitcoin Talk forum, but which board is consistently the most stimulating. With all the changes that are going on in the world, politics should provide a constant flow of premium discussions in my opinion. Flying Hellfish has done a tremendous job in sanitising that board,but he needs the support of some of the quality posters here. The threads that get the most replies seem to be the ones one would expect to see in a school debating society. Discussions on international political topics are frequently ignored. The Ivory Tower and serious discussion seem to generate more responses. I think it is a shame, as good local opinion from some of the troubled countries is hard to find.

[edit] That post referred to Jet Cash of course. I didn't realise I was logged in as Talk Merit.

Having spent most of my early days programming in basic assembly language, I still have a slight mistrust of "high level languages". However, I realise that computing has become so sophisticated now, and one needs to support a wide variety of platforms. I'm going to need to write a couple of programs for some upcoming projects, and I'm not sure that PHP is the best solution. I've been downloading the free eBooks from PackT, and I notice that many of them are guides for Python, and include books for specialist topics. I haven't started to read them yet, as I wanted to make a decision on the best language to start my experiments.

Do any of you guys use Python, and what do you think of it?

I see what you mean - glyphs in the title, and stupid great images. I've put him on ignore.

There are quite a few members who promote their own websites here, and I am certainly one of them. I do it in my signature, and in posts if the site is "on topic". Just as a tip for people considering doing this - you seem to get better click through rates from a simple "run of text" link. Of course this assumes that you are making a useful and constructive post to contain the link.

Thanks to the three of you who have joined, and I've authorised you, so you just need to cofirm via the email acceptance letter. We insist that you use your Bitcoin Talk name to avoid any risk of accusations of plagiarism.

Have a look through the threads, and you can make an introductory post, or a local interest post to get started. Don't worry about your English, just have a go, and we will tidy it up for you. In fact we don't mind if you use Google to help you. Whilst you shouldn't do this in the Bitcoin Talk forum, the idea on Fit to Talk English is to get you started with your English. If you do use Google translate, then read through the translation, and see how much you understand. One tip is to translate it back into your local language, and see how different the re-translation is. This can often give you a clue as to some of the ambiguities in English.

I think buying accounts is a waste of money. you need to be able to maintain the style and quality of the original owner to preserve its value, and if you have the ability to do that, then you might as well create a legitimate account. The other danger is that you buy a stolen account, and in that case, you lose your money. There is also a fraud going on where an owner sells his account, and then claims it was hacked and demands that the mods retrieve it for him.

All in all, buying accounts seems to be a risky and unwise action.