The merit systems is working to stop spammers. That's reason enough to let it continue. I would even raise it to 5 merits for junior not 1.

Merit itself means nothing do not worry about your merit score. There is no hard correlation between merit score and post value.

Merit works to stop spammers and indirectly scams proliferating. Holds back account farmers and is just a nice way to reward those that either align with your pov on something or have provided you with something you may find interesting and useful.

Sure there is a merit circle jerking club and certain boards are where they mostly reside. However so long as merit is of net benefit which is certainly is then we should keep it. I would weaponise it further by creating junior boards and move away all those less than full member from current discussion boards.

As many here have said even those with huge merit scores - don't keep worry about it merit is not that important.

I do not think it should be tied to rank after you reach senior.

I don't know why the OP is really complaining in here though sounds like someone trying to power up account farms.

TA will be used against you here at critical for times. It is not a tool for average traders it is a weapon for whales.

I agree with all of this entirely.

I wonder if finding large areas of land under very shallow water is the next big thing. So long as it is at least 12miles from land I think that you can develop it. I guess though you would need to have a considerable army or deterrent if you did start to construct something of real value. I wonder what it would take to be a recognised sovereign state.

I don't think as yet there is enough motivation for this to take off in a huge way.

I wonder what about just a GIANT ship. I know where the boat is constructed or registered when built is then where the boat is tied to and laws from that country then apply. However one possibility would perhaps be to build just one man made island and construct boats from there. I guess I only mention giant boats as an alternative over man made islands since I would expect they could cost less, you could make as many as required. Also with these man made islands that i have seen so far (not that many) they do look rather flat and vulnerable to big storms?  With advanced weather prediction I guess it could be possible to move your giant ship out of the way. The entire thing would need to be as solar powered as possible for sure. So I am not even sure for such a huge vessel you could capture/store anywhere near enough solar power to propel the ship and supply the population with the energy they need. I mean it could be possible.

If you could build a sea island though that could be a sovereign state that is recognised it would be very interesting. I mean by default I would have thought if it were more than 12 miles from any coast it would automatically be self governing. I am surprised some billionaires have not tried this already. To construct your very own country that has it's own sovereignty you would imagine would be very tempting.

Ha sorry I am going off topic. Interesting topic for sure though.

Reddit is okay for news announcements on btc and gaining some insight by reading the comments. However it is moderated way too much.

Bitcointalk will soon return to it's glorious past. Nobody was expecting such expansion so quickly. Measures will be taken to separate the wheat from the chaff.

At the moment all the greatest posters are taking a break. They will certainly return.

This is true.

How does that differ from a human being?

I am very interested in what potentially AI will be like.

This is far too complex of an issue for me to know which has the highest probability for ensuring the best standard of living for the greatest amount of people in the fairest way. I was thinking about it just the other day.

I would (from where i got to in my wondering) say capitalism is "better". However, if left unchecked I think both lead to a reset and chaos at some point because the majority reach a point of critical discontent in end.  

I could be wrong but I still think capitalism is the most natural human way to approach it. There is no substitute for freedom and natural input and output expectation.

The only issue is to me it "capitalism" seems a bit like monopoly. Once the winners start to emerge their domination only increases until they would own everything.

Perhaps socialism has never had an opportunity to flourish without it's core design being mutated by unavoidable human traits such as greed, fear etc. So socialism may fair better with a race that could operate happily without those traits. It is by trying to work against natural human traits (some that are net positive for communities and some negative) that I think socialism creates a less natural life for humans. So although when taken to extremes both systems fail and need reset in the end the path there is less enjoyable the socialist route for many. Not all because those that are in a position to compete least well will I think offset their lack of freedom for a potentially more positive existence in other ways. Does that mean I think socialism fits well for losers. No not at all perhaps those that are less well designed to compete are actually in some ways less developed than those that do not have the "selfish singular" traits that contribute to competing well and that have that drive for singular success. Not all very wealthy people seem that smart, nor started off wealthy, ...right time right place and luck can account for some but it's strange some of the very smartest people are also quite poor too. Their competitive nature does not seem as strong as some of the mediocre or even below standard individuals. Perhaps socialism stunts creativity though which could be huge driver for individual success?  I don't know really just working it through ...

It's seems to me humans are always going to suffer internal conflict that is insoluble to a degree. I think there could be innate drives that were more beneficial in our early evolution that will take a long time to adapt to being part of a more massive social machine. We know that co-operation is the only way forward to bigger things and security but those things that ensure great co-operation may be in conflict with more ancient hard wiring. So perhaps the more advanced we become (if being advanced is losing a lot of human emotions and traits and operating on more like complex probability of assured success models) the perhaps the balance will swing to the socialist ideology. It is strange because when I studied (briefly and with my usual inability to concentrate without going off in huge tangents) marx for a while I really liked and agreed with what he said in principle. I was explaining to some religious friends that it is possible that it was a control system to maintain the unfair status quo. It was an interesting discussion but I didn't push that theory since I was out numbered at the time.

Then again perhaps i don't exactly understand fully the concept of capitalism nor socialism and I should read up more on many many things rather than to sit there trying to fathom these things for myself. Then again did plato have the internet or bunches of smart people to ask like I have now.  When you read some of these ancient philosophers (not plato) their ideas seem quite ludicrous as much of what i say to people probably is. Still sometimes reading how things are or how smart people believe them to be can take the fun out of it.

Your analogy is 100% correct. I actually thought it was very comprehensive and covered much

However, I was simply saying if I left and said no more of my sexy ass for the ruling class anymore. So long ass raper and those that want to continue bending over or see no other choice. I am leaving to my new island with others who don't wish to be ass raped any longer.

I would not expect to come back to ass rape island and get the same services (excluding ass rape) as those paying with their ass pipes. Not because essentially I would rationalise that I would be doing anything wrong, I mean why do we have to be ass raped, why can there not be another way. Mostly because you know that the others paying for everything with their ass are 100% going to take the view you are getting out of what they are being forced to experience. Are they to blame more than the ass raper? I guess if he is a patron is donating money/services in return for their ass ...then those receiving anal poundings are to blame more than he for the situation. However if he is enforcing anal rape and giving the services as compensation that is different.

 It's quite tough to actually apportion blame really because if they want to get assfucked more than to find alternative ways to exist then perhaps there is no blame. Merely people that do want to be assfucked and some that do not. The minority should either take a part of anal island and start their own thing or leave for the new island. That's if the minority did not want to get ass raped. If they were the majority then the ass raping fans should go and set up else where.

I am opting out of ass rape island (not that I should have to but really but because all the people with loose assholes have now have decided through lack of any other action to keep the status quo there).

I would not expect in anyway to return to the ass rape island to use their services or anything that is funded by the community getting assraped. They will rightly or wrongly assume you are using services their asses are financing and view you as taking the piss.

If for example the community thought it was fair you could return  and for a fee use services then I expect that would be okay.

You have to remember you need a critical mass of people to be able to really start their own island successfully and not many are willing to be the guinea pigs for this.

The only problem with your analogy I guess is there is no other island to go to where you can establish something under your own laws entirely. Well not that I am aware off. You would need to obtain majority or parity and just divide the current island up if the ass raper and his meat will not agree to you having a section of the current island.

I agree compulsory taxation is theft until you decide to willingly become part of it. Then it is just a system you are part of.

 I guess people can exist outside of this to a large extent but then their lives will be very different (perhaps much better) but not everyone can go off grid or find their piece of their island and start their own community.

The people I dislike the most in your analogy are not the ass rapists actually. I dislike the nay sayers and those that are getting ass raped and hate it but want to make sure you get ass raped too (preferably harder than they are so they can feel better) instead of trying your own path because they are too weak to try it even though they want to.

You have to be careful when upsetting the apple cart though because you don't want to introduce a system where you end up getting assfucked 1x a month for the same living standard (not accounting for more regular sex).

It is a very complex juggling act. I think the reason it still happens is because to organise and create a system outside of it is much harder than you would imagine especially as the land is already all all snapped up. Even if you found your own land/island and created a good thing it could be hard to protect it from other people who want to take your things and ass rape constantly for a long time.

To me tax could work well but it needs to be a very efficient system. Perhaps each country should set up a small section for people that want to opt out of the current tax system.  I'm not sure what it would be like to live there though.... ha i'm turning into the people i dislike the most.... lol actually no because i would certainly encourage others to leave and try the new place.

No doubt though compulsory tax without opting in is theft but I can not honestly say I could design a better system myself other than to streamline the shit out of the current system.

I think blockchain and smart contracts could actually be the start of something that could present a better system. We will wait and see.

I was excited to hear of the prospect of crypto island ( a while back). Perhaps if all current islands are claimed then when btc hits 1M some btc whales can construct some islands somewhere and the experiment can start. With enough money it may be possible to buy an island that is a claimed already but stake your own sovereignty on it after. Not sure if that is even possible.

I suspect they will just move to monaco or something where the ass rape is reduced to an ass spanking with a feather duster once every 5 years.

Agreed.

Well, spammers directly for sure. However it also does prevent account farmers powering up and selling them to scammers. I would also hope that cutting off all spammers of sigs promoting scamming icos will stop them attracting funds and eventually hopefully even stop launching them. I personally view capped icos that meet their hard limit in 30 seconds a huge scam. This is like a huge instamine or even premine in the old pow days. That's not allowing for the icos that just collect and leave with the btc/eth

I'm not one for too many rules. However, if you can just give 50 merits to your alts or mates for making the same 2 posts then let's just stop worrying about merit and I would say after making full member merit should not be really be linked to rank. Lots of good posters in the ALT section will never rank up. Merit can just be a nice way of tipping your hat to a post you agree with or as a friendly gesture. The danger is trying to imply it correlates to the net value of the user in anyway.

I have seen even high merit and high rank members give chunks of merit to posts that are incorrect based on hard observable evidence contained within the same thread. Merit is more for sharing an opinion that demonstrating the post has real objective value.

Also the most damning of all was a bunch of stats that show if you remove all merit passed between the top 0.13% of users on this board (that's if we say 150k real users that have posted this month not the 2 million members that have joined at some point) ... so going towards a 1/10th of 1%.

If you remove their internal merit swapping their merits crash by 50-75%

If you remove the merits gained in meta you would likely see no body except a handful have more than 150 earned merits. I am talking satoshi, theymos and perhaps literally a handful of others.

Those that never leave the alt boards are likely to have zero earned merits whatever they post and bitcoin talk does a bit better.

So to me meta has 2 real applications if taken at face value

1. a weapon against scammers  account farmers (that could be used with way more power with junior boards)
2. a friendly hat tipping and acknowledgement of sharing a view or stance on something and saying thanks for a request.

I have seen so many persons using their merit score as part of an argument as it if lends weight. To me it does not.

I don't actually think there is anything wrong with merit as it is because already it is helping with scammers, account farmers, and is very net positive. However implying there is some deeper objective meaning to it is false.  

I think if we had junior boards even just for the alt discussion board you would over night see the people here just trying to cash cow this board would drop away.

Well the precedent would be 1 per 1000 posts of real plagiarism where there is no sensible explanation like copy and pasting an announcement from exchange regarding that project in that projects thread or some mining guide that a noob asked for. Fair for all. That is also only in retrospect from this point. From now on zero tolerance for real financially motivated plagiarism.

However all this will likely vanish with sigs being deleted from all.

You will have to go futher thought tp stop account sellers if there are no criteria or rules for giving merit, and it is even harder to stop fake ico conversations though.

Years ago I hardly noticed any sig ads and the forum was running very well.

There is no such thing as your own decentralised trusteless crypto

These centralised attempts I think will fail hard.

Bitcoin is the true global currency the first to wise up and get on board will be the countries that benefit the most.

"When the winds of change blow...."

@OP

the fact you said this

"I would pay 0.1BTC to get my account reviewed by a french speaker (what about the french modorator ?, he is unbiased, we never exchanged a MP nor have a conversation in any of the french topic, he has no loyalty to me) and check that on the 1236 post, 99%  of them are not ICO scams / copy and paste / off topic..."

I feel you are 99% likely to be a good guy. I am actually working on devising a good way to sort the wheat from the chaff and bringing value to trusted members here who work to keep the board clean and working nicely.

I think if we are all reasonable we can all reach the result we want without losing any net positive members.

The thing I disliked the most was people seemingly happy and gloating at legends getting banned.

I did like it. Thanks.

Now. I am actually devising a system that will deal with all of this. I am counting actually on your support. I am not a master of game theory though so I will need it stress  tested before implementation.

In return I will allow you to continue to benefit from my prior art without " " nor full citation and  I will not insist you pay me 0.1 btc to review your post history. Nor even report you. People may say I am making favourites here but I  say to them become a legend with 13k posts and spend hours  helping return the alt discussion to usable form and you too can benefit from my toil.

If you had supported my call for junior boards even if just for the alt discussion you would probably not need be spending your time doing those reports you could be feeling very positive for rewarding the good instead of punishing the bad.

I think I should take this as a NO. Since I asked what you would like to see.

That is a credit to you. 1 in 1000 seems reasonable.  

@ The pharmacist

I do not defend the person I defend the right to a fair decision based on observable events or evidence at hand.

I once did not do enough for a person that was getting bullied. I have regretted it severely and although it was too late to help them I always try to help achieve a fair solution when I get the opportunity.

Legends some for sure have put a lot of work into this forum. A couple of mistakes are not why we are coming down hard on copy and paste right now as we all know.

There is no need for emotion really. I simply think the more you put in the more you can expect back.

I did not fall out with you on that thread. I simply feel you were wrong. If you felt you were correct in light of all evidence I presented then there was no need for me to fall out with you. I was glad I could help that person to what I considered a better position than if I had not found that case. I remember you from way back. I didn't like how you continued to say dash was a good project after my great cake analogy that you enjoyed... i was certain you would see how unfair and terrible that manner of distribution was (back then). But you are not a scammer so I just figured we can not all have the same view of what is fair.  

I am  sure over all that you are net positive here, so i would stick up for you if there was a couple of mistakes in your post history that one day may be grounds for your banning. If it didn't seem fair I would help you. If that makes me a bleeding heart that is of no consequence to me.

Let's stay civil if possible,.  forget whether you consider it a strawman. I just want to know if you have an opinion. I mean you are not a bot right so you have a human mind that can form an opinion of your own.


can you answer my question ? I am just interested in your answer. There is no reason not to answer and make your position clear.

Do you want to see legends/anyone banned for copy and pasting an announcement that is very useful to members of their community and is quite clearly not their own work and is simply a copy and pasted announcement from an exchange ?

Yes you think they should be banned or NO you do not think they should.

How much copy and paste or paraphrasing is allowed. I mean are you saying if you can prove what is copy and paste spliced with own words originates with another party then they should be banned?

2 questions contained.

To answer your second point this does not crush my 1 in 1000 offences idea. I do not think the cryptopia announcement would count as anything other than being useful. The other one where he admitted he was lazy would. As they stack up I guess it gets harder to make a case but so far I see nothing to say he is dangerous of creating a problem with the forum.

Guides helping people prevent loss of investment and reducing his own stake is not posting "other shit"  this is preventing people getting burned and leaving this arena feeling cheated and disillusioned.

Honestly I believe people who are meta hermits have not got a complete understanding of this environment. That is not being nasty to anyone this is honestly what I think. You need to have experience of being is many different positions as a supporter of multiple projects and experience many different scenarios which most will have not experienced from dealing with just btc or living in meta.

To understand how useful or not useful something is sometimes requires you to have been in a position where such information could have been presented to you is. These are sometimes not obvious unless you have had to find out the hard way for yourself.

I don't think there is any need to have a go at this guy. He was commenting on the evidence provided.

We have all claimed airdrops at one time perhaps.

I remember I claimed 6 million US dollars once  for posting a couple of words here once.  I think we all copy and paste each other saying  I actually thought my own words up (since I didn't have mouse and was using a laptop i was not aware that the time that control c and v could do such things imagine when i found control z this is a life saver) "sounds awesome"  those days we were sensible about crediting prior art

However on this case I can spare no more time right now. Seems a minor offender and some of his copy and paste could have saved people losing their coins...I hope whatever the outcome it will be fair.

Okay but a clear annoucement from  cryptopia ..... is clearly not your own work.

I do not think pasting relevant news from the project owners social media or alerting a bunch of people to fact their coins are about to get stolen in a swap by posting the exchanges announcement to the thread is something we should even consider worth a ban.

Are you saying we should ban some legend on the basis of this announcement copying and pasting to appropriate communities? Is this your serious opinion? Please tell me why you think this? Disregard any other factors at this time.

Is this what happened there ? or are you just giving an example of what we need to be careful about?

I mean I am willing to help people who have through nobodies fault really been struck off ( i mean reporters do good work i know this but we just need to make sure some done accidentally become snagged by the well meaning net)

I have not examined the entire post history but on these examples he seems to not be the kind of person we are desperate to rid the board of.

I hope staff will have another look at him and see what can be  done.

LOL  why are you on meta all day...merit crumbs?  I never heard of just joining a board to comment on the running of it.

What projects do you support ispup?

Let's stick to your post that I have already demonstrated  was worthless. Neither points are valid here.

Stop cluttering my thread buzz off.

Actually there is need to reply the answer was clear in the thread that I was directed to.

However as I see more NOOB's hovering around merit I will wonder probably suspect they are hovering for merit crumbs.

Point me to hogwash swill that you are going to demonstrate is incorrect.

Bring a full case I am not interested in wasting time on you if you want to throw nonsense around without substantiating it.



@coinlocket$

I am sorry your efforts are not rewarded. You look like you are doing very good work

Not sure what your post means. Like most noob accounts spouting nonsense in meta looking for some merit crumbs.
 

 I am talking about 50 merits for very similar post 2 x to 2 accounts linked to his same holding addresses.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5072316.0

Just this one instance makes a mockery of merit, and brings into question any use of it except as weapon to stop noobs filling the board with junk. Sadly even some slip through the net like for instance you.

I am talking blatant abuse not a difference of opinion on what makes a good post.

Plagiarism is not as simple as running some script for hits and job done. Of course it may seem like that if you are some bot deployed to KA for merit.