What is the function of the "Merit" score?

[vanobe]

OP, your post is:

Merited by theymos (1)

It will be interesting to see how these points will be awarded, not that I'm too fond of the idea.

There is a new +Merit button besides the quote button.
Leading to a new page that reads:

You have received a total of 500 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 88 sendable merit (sMerit) which you can send to other people. There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you, and we reserve the right to decay unused sMerit in the future.

You are a merit source. The next 100 merit you spend will come from your source rather than your sMerit balance. Merit spent from your source will come back in 30 days. Unused source merit is wasted. It is not allowed for merit sources to sell their merit.

(Merited Lauda for testing.)

The OP now has 506 merit points. Tyrantt has given him an extra 5 while testing the new system out.



I just sent the OP one merit point. Unfortunately it says I only have one merit point to send, so I've run out now. Members must only get one spendable merit point for each 30 days.

Bitcoin Forum > Merit

You have received a total of 10 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 1 sendable merit (sMerit) which you can send to other people. There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you, and we reserve the right to decay unused sMerit in the future.

I sent you one merit point. Is it now in your main balance or at spendable merits?

It's in my main balance, but not in my spendable balance.

It seems one spendable merit is all a member gets for the each 30 day period.

[lizardbtc]

But abusing merit system with multiple accounts will be fast uncovered, because you see, who spent whom merits.

Malicious user could know this and be aware of this, if he has like multiple accounts he doesn't need to give all his merit to his main. If he is cleaver one he will simply diverstify by giving merit to some random people including to one of his main accounts thus it makes harder to spot those people.

[Lutpin]

Announcement thread by theymos:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.0

[monbux]

Interesting. Curious to see how people can de-rank through demerit points.

All legendary members got 200 sMerit. All Heros got 88 sMerit, dont know the numbers for lower ranks.
(edit: 6 sMerit for full members, 19 sMerit for Senior Members)

I have 186 to start off.

Does this new Merit system affect the ranking system at all or is it just a way to crack down on garbage posts around here?

I don't think anyone knows, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe we are still waiting for an official update from theymos. Update

[Vod]

OP, your post is:

Merited by theymos (1)

It will be interesting to see how these points will be awarded, not that I'm too fond of the idea.

There is a new +Merit button besides the quote button.
Leading to a new page that reads:

You have received a total of 500 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 88 sendable merit (sMerit) which you can send to other people. There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you, and we reserve the right to decay unused sMerit in the future.

You are a merit source. The next 100 merit you spend will come from your source rather than your sMerit balance. Merit spent from your source will come back in 30 days. Unused source merit is wasted. It is not allowed for merit sources to sell their merit.

(Merited Lauda for testing.)

The OP now has 506 merit points. Tyrantt has given him an extra 5 while testing the new system out.



I just sent the OP one merit point. Unfortunately it says I only have one merit point to send, so I've run out now. Members must only get one spendable merit point for each 30 days.

Bitcoin Forum > Merit

You have received a total of 10 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 1 sendable merit (sMerit) which you can send to other people. There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you, and we reserve the right to decay unused sMerit in the future.

I sent you one merit point. Is it now in your main balance or at spendable merits?

It's in my main balance, but not in my spendable balance.

It seems one spendable merit is all a member gets for the each 30 day period.

I would like to be able to REDUCE merit for accounts like this who just quote everything - it's a form of shitposting.

Clean up your message if you use the Quote feature!  Quote only what you are replying to!

[bill gator]

It is going to be interesting to see how this system plays out now that it has been implemented (at least temporarily, although I don't know theymos to take back features). I'm not excited at the idea of ranks being "volatile", but this could be very solid incentive to not risk your rank by posting thoughtless nonsense.

From what I can tell the lower ranks have next to nothing to send in terms of merit, so account farming is only going to be significant to the degree that the account farmer has higher ranking accounts. This would seemingly be a very good tool for drawing out alts to some extent. I imagine people with many alts would be hesitant on the trigger when sending merit to themselves, and when they do it would probably not last long. It is obviously something we frown upon, there are people that act as "watchdogs" and it will presumably just not be worth "farming" merit.

I'd like to know how activity and merit play into one another, because if Merit determines your rank now then is activity simply used to determine initial merit? Apologies if I'm being naive or illiterate.

[Oakey22]

So how will this work out? Does merit replace the activity and will there be any reductions in merit for spam?

[monbux]

So how will this work out? Does merit replace the activity and will there be any reductions in merit for spam?

See the link Lutpin posted above: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.0

Merit will not replace activity, it is another factor that will determine your rank on the forum.
And as theymos said, there is currently no demerit system (answering my own comments above)

[stompix]

But abusing merit system with multiple accounts will be fast uncovered, because you see, who spent whom merits.

Malicious user could know this an be aware of this, if he has like multiple accounts he doesn't need to give all his merit to his main. If he is cleaver one he will simply diverstify by giving merit to some random people including to one of his main accounts thus it makes harder to spot those people.

This!

They will just create a shitload of users and award 1-2 point from each, it will turn into another whack-a-mole game just with fewer holes for them to hide.

[vanobe]

- If the account receiving the points has ever posted using the same IP ever used by the sending account - reduce by 100%

While unlikely, that both the sender and receiver are *coincidentally* on the same VPN and the same node what about them?

Some free crap VPNs only share a few IPs between all users, so it's not unlikely people using the same service will often use the same IP. The free VPNs usually tempt you to use them with a crap free service, then offer a better paid service.

[tk808]

I have to give my kudos, this is one of the most well-thought out and needed systems to ever appear on Bitcointalk. This really gives a new meaning to ranking on these forums.

Once the system takes hold for months and years, the true effects and stigma's behind people's accounts will be realized. This essentially gives some new dominance for active, and trustful members on these forums.

I'd like to add one suggestion, one last problem Bitcointalk faces, and that's with purchasing/selling Bitcointalk accounts. It's been a long time since i've actually commented anything meaningful to these forums, but someone should definitely start a new thread about individuals who are found to have a "non-legitimate account." (if it hasn't already been done).


I've been waiting for something like this merit system for a long time, i just didn't really have the foresight that it would be this good. Will be awaiting for more details.

[danherbias07]

So even with your activity soaring (from now on) you will require to be merited with all your posts to rank up.

How about those who will pay just for 1 merit? Could happen right?
Okay this could be a good sign to avoid more accounts to be created also from one user.
Because as long as there is no quality with their posts they will stay with a lower rank.

But again there could be some bad sides on it.
I just hope it doesnt happen.


Edit: How about those who will target one account merit-ing over and over to look like he was one of his alts and for the pleasure of getting him banned?
Specially those who have a lot of accounts now.
Can that happen?

[Vod]

How about those who will pay just for 1 merit? Could happen right?

If detected by the DT network, they would probably get negative trust.  :/

[walterw]

Edit: How about those who will target one account merit-ing over and over to look like he was one of his alts and for the pleasure of getting him banned?
Specially those who have a lot of accounts now.
Can that happen?

That's my thought too. I think the users who are going to exploit the system will not give themselves a merit.
But I think that you can not exploit the system so easily, because everyone can see who gave whom a merit. It just takes a bit of time for everyone to understand.

Edit: Is there a maximum of merits?

[Lutpin]

Edit: How about those who will target one account merit-ing over and over to look like he was one of his alts and for the pleasure of getting him banned?
Specially those who have a lot of accounts now. Can that happen?

You only have a finite amount of sMerit to spend. Also there are limits to how many merit you can send someone (Seems 50 per month/30 days right now).
You shouldnt attempt to spend your limited sMerit on trying to make someone look bad (youd only make yourself look bad as the merit points being sent for a specific post are public).


We'll see how the system works out during the next day/weeks, I think.
All in all an interesting change. Merit points reward quality over quantity (as activity does in a way). That's a good step forward.

[Bitfort]

OP, your post is:

Merited by theymos (1)

It will be interesting to see how these points will be awarded, not that I'm too fond of the idea.

There is a new +Merit button besides the quote button.
Leading to a new page that reads:

You have received a total of 500 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 88 sendable merit (sMerit) which you can send to other people. There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you, and we reserve the right to decay unused sMerit in the future.

You are a merit source. The next 100 merit you spend will come from your source rather than your sMerit balance. Merit spent from your source will come back in 30 days. Unused source merit is wasted. It is not allowed for merit sources to sell their merit.

(Merited Lauda for testing.)

The OP now has 506 merit points. Tyrantt has given him an extra 5 while testing the new system out.



I just sent the OP one merit point. Unfortunately it says I only have one merit point to send, so I've run out now. Members must only get one spendable merit point for each 30 days.

Bitcoin Forum > Merit

You have received a total of 10 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 1 sendable merit (sMerit) which you can send to other people. There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you, and we reserve the right to decay unused sMerit in the future.

I sent you one merit point. Is it now in your main balance or at spendable merits?

It's in my main balance, but not in my spendable balance.

It seems one spendable merit is all a member gets for the each 30 day period.

I would like to be able to REDUCE merit for accounts like this who just quote everything - it's a form of shitposting.

Clean up your message if you use the Quote feature!  Quote only what you are replying to!

Agree with the option to reduce merit.
On the other hand I get used to quote everything I'm replying to (both good or bad posts) because multipletimes happend OP edited his post turning my reply into nonsense.

I also don't think getting merit for being quoted is good idea because sometimes quoting stupid posts just for reference.
Which brings me to question If I remove the author name from the quote (in case of bad posts) and leave only the link and date will this work?

[BeEvil]

I like the idea of such a system. In addition to improving the quality of communication on the forum, you can see the associated accounts used for multiaccount cheating in campaigns. Let's see how the system will work.

[bayu7adi]

If everyone has 100 Merit points, then the person presses the + Merit button on someone's post. Is the Merit of that person reduced to 99 or fixed 100?

[walterw]

If everyone has 100 Merit points, then the person presses the + Merit button on someone's post. Is the Merit of that person reduced to 99 or fixed 100?

I think some have not yet realized that there is an extra thread about it. All important questions about "merit" will be answered there.

Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.0

[monbux]

If everyone has 100 Merit points, then the person presses the + Merit button on someone's post. Is the Merit of that person reduced to 99 or fixed 100?

I think some have not yet realized that there is an extra thread about it. All important questions about "merit" will be answered there.

Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.0

Yes, this thread should be locked and all conversation directed to that official thread.