Comprehensive guide to Bitcointalk. Newbie friendly + calculator and infographic

[TheBeardedBaby]

  I am posting consistently with quality replies (not just "hi" or "this site is great" or "I agree").  I am accruing many posts (over 180)  but my merit remains pinned at "10" or at a newbie to jr member level.  Quite the discrepancy between the amount I am posting, my activity  and the merit value. 

Not understanding the merit system at all.

I guess all I can do is continue to post (because the topics interest me) and let the "merit" and "activity" take care of itself (HOPEFULLY) over time.
 

Yes, just give it some time. It's just 20 days since it was introduced so big part of the community is not aware of it yet. When the time comes to rank up, they will find out about the Merit and how it works and will begin to distribute it too.

[1714108428]

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[1714108428]

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[g.m.tyshenk]

Thanks. I did not realize that the merit system was so new (less than a few weeks old).  Will have patience and will keep posting to my favourite threads. Many interesting  discussions on these forums!

[TheBeardedBaby]

Just added new section for "Useful and entertaining threads".
If there are useful threads for newbies, please point them out so I can include them in the list
Planning later to rearrange everything and probably  will change the Subject line too. It's getting way toooo long now.
Reduced the size of the infographic.

Thanks. I did not realize that the merit system was so new (less than a few weeks old).  Will have patience and will keep posting to my favourite threads. Many interesting  discussions on these forums!

People's perceptions of the quality of posts follows some rules but it really varies from individual to individual.  Something that is valuable to you doesn't mean that is valuable to everyone.

[TheBeardedBaby]

I love the information. I understood that we need 10 merit to jump from Jr to Member. right?

Yes, you need to collect 10 merits in order to rank up to member. By learning and helping the community you will achieve those points in no time, so avoid spam and one line posts and you are on the right way

[cryptothief]

Thanks. I did not realize that the merit system was so new (less than a few weeks old).  Will have patience and will keep posting to my favourite threads. Many interesting  discussions on these forums!

Just an observation, although I admire your dedication to certain threads (Titanium, Snovio, Litecoincash and Moonlite), your posts - at least since the merit system was introduced - are almost exclusively on these 4 threads. This is unlikely to earn you any merit, as with the thousands of threads that are on the forum, someone would have to be on one of these particular threads and be interested in your post to merit you. You need to 'spread your wings' if you want to earn merit, delve into other topics that interest you as well as projects that (presumably) you are invested in. If you want to see what posts are earning merit, click the link below that was provided by the OP. If shows where (lots of) merit points are being handed out, at least the more frequent places, and who is giving them.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats

If you want to get more specific info on particular people and who they give/receive their merit points to/from, just click on their profile and then click the merit option in their profile summary. It gives an interesting insight into what different people value on the forum, and consequently where you are more likely to earn merit points by posting.

That said, you are genuinely using the forum as it was designed, to learn and educate on specific areas that you personally are interested in, so fair play to you. I'll give you a merit for that.

P.S. Nice concise guide by the OP, the links combined in one post are very handy.

[coolws]

Hi, here is the video of the Merit system and how to level up rank. hope can be added into your thread and help more people to understand in a relaxing way. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3090750.msg31889906#msg31889906

[Ilnet]

Thank you for such detailed clarification of ranks and merits systems.
So, if you get 2 merits then you can send 1 merit to someone else, right?
And if you get 1 merit you can't send anything?

[TheBeardedBaby]

Thank you for such detailed clarification of ranks and merits systems.
So, if you get 2 merits then you can send 1 merit to someone else, right?
And if you get 1 merit you can't send anything?

Yes, if you get only one, you actually have 0.5 sMerit, which you can't send /for now, there can be some changes in the rules in the future/ until you receive one more.

[Ilnet]

Thank you for such detailed clarification of ranks and merits systems.
So, if you get 2 merits then you can send 1 merit to someone else, right?
And if you get 1 merit you can't send anything?

Yes, if you get only one, you actually have 0.5 sMerit, which you can't send /for now, there can be some changes in the rules in the future/ until you receive one more.

Hmmmm.... 

So, if I get 1 merit + 1 merit then I have 1 sMerit in total?

[TheBeardedBaby]

Hmmmm.... 

So, if I get 1 merit + 1 merit then I have 1 sMerit in total?

Exactly, you never loose points,  they're just rounded to whole number so you can't send 0.5.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Thanks to vlad230 I found some phishing links in the rules in my post forwarding to bitcointalk.to.
If anyone tried to login in trough this site, please change your password immediately!!
All the links are now corrected!

[vphasitha01]

Here is a little gem of knowledge that's often omitted from all activity calculator discussion: If you make more than 14 posts a fortnight, they don't go to waste. The excess posts will count as additional activity in the future activity periods where you've made less than 14 posts.

This really motivates me to posting more than 14 posts per two week period,this information I never found earlier in this forum and again big thank you for your valuble contribution for the forum and such a great way of explaining facts which I didn't know before

[cryptoum]

Here is a little gem of knowledge that's often omitted from all activity calculator discussion: If you make more than 14 posts a fortnight, they don't go to waste. The excess posts will count as additional activity in the future activity periods where you've made less than 14 posts.

This really motivates me to posting more than 14 posts per two week period,this information I never found earlier in this forum and again big thank you for your valuble contribution for the forum and such a great way of explaining facts which I didn't know before

Why would that motivate you to post more?
You should post when you have something to say, not because of some post counting system.
I've done a lot of reading since I joined but posted just few times.

[achichy]

thanks for this infomation it was really helpful but i still got something confusing me, sometimes when i make a post instead of my activity to increase my post will increase why is it so?

[TheBeardedBaby]

thanks for this infomation it was really helpful but i still got something confusing me, sometimes when i make a post instead of my activity to increase my post will increase why is it so?

Your post count is increasing every time you make a post, same if you / or mods/  delete one, it will decrease.
The activity is increasing with every post you make / updating every 15 min or something/  but cannot go over 14 activity points for two weeks. 

Example:
So if you have 100 activity in the beginning of the two weeks period and you make 15 posts in the first two days your activity will go up to 114, because you reached your limit for those two weeks. Every post will increase your post count^* but not your activity until the start of the next two weeks period.

* There are boards where if you post your post count doest change.
- Serious Discussions
- Ivory Tower

[vphasitha01]

Here is a little gem of knowledge that's often omitted from all activity calculator discussion: If you make more than 14 posts a fortnight, they don't go to waste. The excess posts will count as additional activity in the future activity periods where you've made less than 14 posts.

This really motivates me to posting more than 14 posts per two week period,this information I never found earlier in this forum and again big thank you for your valuble contribution for the forum and such a great way of explaining facts which I didn't know before

Why would that motivate you to post more?
You should post when you have something to say, not because of some post counting system.
I've done a lot of reading since I joined but posted just few times.

I have been reading and learning since day one though I have not posting " I've done lot of reading" .Further if I want to post only for counting thing then i only need to post just one post per day just like you. But I want to be a part of this forum and interactive with other members,not only for say hi or to be one liner. Do you think that everyone want to be just like you.No I'm different and btw feel free to check what I have posted and then criticise

[ElcinB]

Yeah just experienced it myself that if you post more than 14 post per 2 weeks the extra posts automatically generate Activity points after your first comment in the new 2 weeks time span. This is great.

OK got it. But what about missed fortnight cycles, I mean if didn't post and then started to do so a month later, could I receive 28 activities of previous month in one week?

[TheBeardedBaby]

OK got it. But what about missed fortnight cycles, I mean if didn't post and then started to do so a month later, could I receive 28 activities of previous month in one week?

If you don't post in this two weeks time span you miss the 14 activity.

[vphasitha01]

Interesting thing is if you have posts over the limit from the previous cycle, with the first comment in the new cycle you get the Activity points from the old posts you had in the previous cycle.
Example:  I had 28 Activity points and 33 comments before the end of the cycle, with my first post in the new cycle my Activity points went up to 34, the same amount as my posts.

In this example you are saying our extra activity will be counted instantly with the first post after two weeks period.Is that means our posts are not going to wasted and still count as activities for the next two weeks period?

[TheBeardedBaby]

Interesting thing is if you have posts over the limit from the previous cycle, with the first comment in the new cycle you get the Activity points from the old posts you had in the previous cycle.
Example:  I had 28 Activity points and 33 comments before the end of the cycle, with my first post in the new cycle my Activity points went up to 34, the same amount as my posts.

In this example you are saying our extra activity will be counted instantly with the first post after two weeks period.Is that means our posts are not going to wasted and still count as activities for the next two weeks period?

Yes, but note that you have to have at least 1 post in the two weeks time span in order to get the 14 activity. If you don't post during the new two weeks period you will loose the 14 points for this period.
Hope it's not too complicated.