Merit & new rank requirements

[minifrij]

This can be a hassle for people using mobile. Making the merit link open to a new tab is fairly easy so I don't see any reason why they shouldn't implement this.

Code:

target="_blank"

on the anchor tag should do the trick.

This was implemented previously, and then removed. You can read about why here.

[1713864099]

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[1713864099]

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[Deena]

You keep bringing up the "abuse".
How are they going to abuse you? By ignoring you? That is an abuse?

Using the power to unlimited merit your friends (or alt accounts) while other users are withheld from receiving merit points, while they may post equal or even more qualitative posts, I call abuse, yes. It is again, like the trust system, subjectively determined by a few chosen ones.

You're only limited to 50 merits max per account per month, so i doubt that it is going to happen much.

 Ontop of that, every merit you give is transparent, and i believe that there soon will be some kind of log where you can see who gave who merit points.

A happy few are again chosen who can hand out unlimited merit. Just like the trust system. That is transparant also, but is still abused to the bone by the well known members. But who can touch them dispite the transparant abuse?

[CrazyCraig]

Not correct. It is similar to someone on the top of the hill giving one person a hand and another the middle finger, purely by subjective choice.

It is similar to a like though. In social media likes encourage meaningful posts.

Now only the few chosen ones are allowed to farm and sell accounts. More privileges for the happy few. Less for the rest.

It just makes it a tad harder for users to farm accounts. Farming is bad for the community. It allows scammers to purchase accounts and costs signature campaigns money.

[athanz88]

Hello guys, I just made a poll to know about people's emotion on this new system called merit points, please kindly do the poll at

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2822349.msg28909933#msg28909933

it will be great to know the demographic data about users of bitcointalk forum.

P.S : this poll and the statistic gathered is only a demographic data and will not be used as a tool to object/deny the new implemented system. In fact, im happy with this new system. If this is wrong, please just kindly tell me to delete or lock this topic, and dont bash me

[djangocoin]

interesting concept! like it! but i don't understand how to get new smerits to give away to other users: are they a reward for good posts as well, or are they given randomly?

If you are a high-ish rank you will have some now. As i understand it, if you are Merited twice you get one whole sMerit. Also, some people are apparently natural sMerit sources (i think randomly chosen maybe?)

[A1exander]

if this system is here to stop people trying to climb the scale up, then it is an absolute success.

It probably is. It is essentially freezing the rankings.

you nailed it : it will FREEZE rankings.

Yes, it's a freeze. I'm a full member, and I got 5 sMerits. Suppose I send them to someone, but that user will get only 2.5 sMerits. Only 2 are spendable, because, as I understand, sending fractions is not allowed. The next will get 1 point, and the next will get nothing (0.5 is not spendable). So this system will deplete in no time. There will be "merit sources", but the amount they will get is very low. Only a few chosen ones will get the points. The rank requirements are so ridiculously high that they are essentially unattainable.

what the admin doesn't get, is that if the majority of people are still posting directly or non- directly, to get a better ranking.

Right. Other reasons to post, like to get and to provide help and for reward in signature campaigns, are still there, but there is actually no incentive to make high-quality posts.

when the majority will be tired of these too harsh rules or whatever, they simply lose patience and move somewhere else.

if theymos has a made a full life / earning from the forum, he has to understand, not everybody here is in such situation.

and people may not be willing to farm so hard to get some small and incredibly slow reward.

if i was about to launch a new crypto i would not waste so much time and energy on this forum anymore, and i'm sure tons of new people might start to think this way.

discouraging is easy especially when better alternatives exists.

just like bitcoin, this forum is aging, and sooner or later it will get replaced by some other community.

this is very sad, but such rules might make the end of this forum sooner than later.

This may happen. There will be less spam, but there will be also much less new users potentially interested in an ICO or a new coin.

[TheQuin]

Also, some people are apparently natural sMerit sources (i think randomly chosen maybe?)

Not randomly, chosen on merit. Go back to the OP and you will see you can also apply to become one.

[totholio]

Couldn't be more unfair to the people who are close to getting a new rank. I'm very disappointed.

[vegita1233]

Merit & new rank requirements
January 24, 2018, 11:00:11 PM
Merited by minerjones (50), Palider (50), Kiritsugu (40), crwth (32), Angelo Santos (31), ny2cafuse (25), notaek (25), Avirunes (25), OgNasty (23), mprep (20), ltcrstrbrt (20), Betwrong (20), batang_bitcoin (20), Sponsoredby15 (18), InvoKing (16), Vod (15), --Encrypted-- (15), BicolIsarog (13), BlackMambaPH (12), Jeremycoin (11), DarkStar_ (11), deadley (10), izanagi narukami (10), harizen (10), SFR10 (10), chichidori (10), Zocadas (10), jerald125 (10), suchmoon (7), Foxpup (6), monbux (6), yahoo62278 (5), numanoid (5), nydiacaskey01 (5), actmyname (5), MintCondition (5), fearcoka (5), BlockEye (5), bL4nkcode (5), mnightwaffle (5), jhenfelipe (5), akamit (5), Mapagmahal (5), Yatsan (5), Dahman El_Harrachi (5), Cacingkemi (5), Cloudpost (5), Blake_Last (5), ReLieD (5), krogothmanhattan (5), rjbtc2017 (5), Arteezy.rtx (5), liviux (5), npredtorch (4), btcton (3), ralle14 (3), SparkyU (3), hatshepsut93 (3), julerz12 (3), fcmatt (2), newinbtc (2), Strongkored (2), jtipt (2), Dudeperfect (2), Tyrantt (2), Indrawan77 (2), marlboroza (2), TheGodFather (2), gandame (2), Soranith (2), Astvile (2), Xenrise (2), Maykl (2), BlackRock (2), SoulBargain (2), llyfee4u (2), katinko (2), grue (1), EFS (1), vapourminer (1), pawel7777 (1), AGD (1), tyz (1), saddampbuh (1), zazarb (1), rozee (1), eternalgloom (1), Patatas (1), RealPhotoshoper (1), bitcoin revo (1), LoyceV (1), examplens (1), anirgu (1), stingers (1), richardsNY (1), Lucius (1), Pipesnake (1), pugman (1), mrcash02 (1), Kolder (1), JanpriX (1), Last of the V8s (1), r1d1 (1), shield132 (1), psycodad (1), bill gator (1), Loganota (1), free-bit.co.in (1), Mountaingoat (1), 5tift (1), max2000irc (1), bitcoinsforall (1), Gelbstich (1), pangu (1), ajqjjj (1), Oceat (1), 8Habits (1), anorganix (1), solosequenosenada (1), SamsungBitcoin (1), undeadbitcoiner (1), leonix007 (1), hanifhadzar (1), okissabam (1), Tara11 (1), Bitfort (1), entrepmind23 (1), 0t3p0t (1), shadowdio (1), bitcoinblog (1), Anon11073 (1), Baofeng (1), kissmarx (1), Cobalt9317 (1), Chris314 (1), LouVandetta (1), Bagaji (1), vinc3 (1), Kawasanz (1), Be_Happy (1), Toxic2040 (1), JayCue (1), caneca (1), DU18 (1), Delphinus (1), pinoyden (1), L1544 (1), josephpogi (1), Chrystora123 (1), Piratte (1), alisafidel58 (1), bbcolex (1), yojodojo21 (1), moamin77 (1), kurian (1), Gracechen17 (1), shesheboy (1), wanispwnz (1), imstillthebest (1), kier010 (1), shoreno (1), dirgayeah (1), HEWRA (1), blacksky (1), jhongzjhong (1), xXLimbXx (1), felipe04 (1), nioctiB#1 (1), mak2017 (1), rommelzkie (1), seven2smoke1 (1), LogitechMouse (1), cepedacharles29 (1), orionluckyse7en (1), kidsuzudn (1), ferrybitcoin.1996 (1), aervin11 (1), Deathgamer (1), cryptovagas (1), RakelA96 (1), hothot (1), zenrol28 (1), pranazzs (1), Godric-Gryffindor (1), WUWARAOLUOXIANG (1), Stamil (1), spiderm4n15 (1), jesoa (1), Tristan1337 (1), iasenko (1), dxbcoin (1), Shiroxx (1), kingjackoin (1), EnterTheLight (1), Pantoflascrypt017 (1)

Look at all these people using trying to use the scarce merits properly! I sure hope theymos doesn't let his sMerits points decay and merits some mere mortal member comments  .. 
oh .. If you enjoy this post, don't forget to merit, reply, and subscribe. It really helps me out!

[codemanX]

For current members, your initial merit score is equal to the minimum required for your rank. Of that, a certain amount (less than the usual half) is spendable. The spendable amount was calculated based on your current rank and the number of activity points you earned in the last year. A Legendary member who hasn't posted in the last year would still be Legendary, but would not have any spendable merit.

I don't agree with this, this is just like giving the "old members" (including me) a head start. I'm not saying that earning merits is a race but giving us a head start also means giving us a free reputation out of nothing. That does not necessarily mean we need to rebuild our reputation from zero, I mean there are so many members that have earned a good reputation on this forum.
So I think the merit points for old members have to be given based on their reputation now and without affecting the rank.
Anyway, I think this is gonna be the end of account farming.

The new system is surely better than the previous one, even though it is over-rewarding "old members". I guess nobody who has joined Bitcointalk in the past six months will EVER manage to become Legendary Member, at least not in less than one or two decades. Fine, this could be a price to pay to avoid the forum getting even more trashy, I fully agree. But I think that the implementation of this new system could be done in a more fair way. The fact that initial merit score is equal to the minimum required for one's rank is not a big deal for Newbies or Juniors, but for higher ranked members, like Senior or Hero Members, it can create big inequalities. For example a freshly ranked Senior Member is now getting the same merit score as someone who has already been a Senior Member for almost half a year and is about to become a Hero. Even more dramatic would be the case of a Hero who has already the activity to be a Legendary but the random system did not grant him the rank yet. A more fair way to distribute the inital merit would be to calculate it proportionally to the actual activity. This would avoid that people like me (I don't want to make it personal but I'm the first example which comes to my mind) who is missing only 4 points of activity (and 5 days) to the rank of Hero Member, instead of getting, let's say 470-480 merits (instead of the 500 of people who already are Heroes), is getting only 250 merits like someone who has just ranked Senior Member 10 days ago, and instead of 5 days it may now suddenly take me years before I can become a Hero - how many very good posts has one to do before he gets 250 merits? If you receive one merit every 4 post you do (on average you are likely to get less IMO) it will take you 1000 more posts to rank up from Senior to Hero, and if you like me were only 4 points of activity from that target, and now suddenly you need another 1000 posts, to say that this is becoming extremely frustrating is a big understatement. On the other side, with a more proportional and balanced initial distribution of merits I think nobody would feel that the system is penalizing them more than it penalizes others - which means people would be more inclined to recognize its substantial fairness, or at least that every effort has been done to achieve the maximum possible fairness.

Absolutely agree! I've already sent a PM to theymos a few hours ago because I am affected too, I just need 2 Activity Points (which I should get in 6 days) to become a Senior Member.

[Lutpin]

So can I...continue posting, ooooor?

[Head_Miner]

How can newbie or Junior Member can receive merrits? If they do not know anybody? To receive "thanks " from someone? It doesn't work. There are plenty of chats already where people buy and sell Merrits. Is that what you were going to do?

[bobq]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2439743.msg28861940#msg28861940 - 7 merit points were received for the question "How much merit points newbie need to receive, before he can post in other section?"

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2770539.msg28896442#msg28896442 - 50 merits for "Right, yesterday he told, that he saved 9% of coins"

High quality posts, huh?

I have few thoughts regarding this. First of all, this could be implemented with purpose to raise the price on the accounts with senior ranks. Admin informed us, that moderators will not moderate merits, than why do we need this? I find it quite suspicious. Secondly, it will help hero/legendary members to save their profits in the bounty campaigns. Now it will be difficult to reach senior ranks, and new rivals will rarely appear. That's my point regarding this new system.

Exactly, it has already begun.   50 sMerits for that post with  10 words.  I struggle to see how this will work in a fair way.   As i've said before, something had to be changed to encourage better quality posts.  I'm just not entirely sure, this has been very well thought out.  The required merits for ranking is not proportionate either.  
Even on this thread, i've seen quite a few posts which i feel deserves merits but considering that sMerits are like gold dust,  nobody is rewarding.  Essentially, legendaries now have 'GOD' status (which is ok), but it makes it practically impossible for other to rank up except people use some 'under hand' tactics to get the required merits.  This needs tweaking.  

(This assumes the majority of the people participating behaves in a responsible way)

Good point, and therein lies another issue.  No guarantee that people would behave in that way.

The new system is surely better than the previous one, even though it is over-rewarding "old members". I guess nobody who has joined Bitcointalk in the past six months will EVER manage to become Legendary Member, at least not in less than one or two decades. Fine, this could be a price to pay to avoid the forum getting even more trashy, I fully agree. But I think that the implementation of this new system could be done in a more fair way. The fact that initial merit score is equal to the minimum required for one's rank is not a big deal for Newbies or Juniors, but for higher ranked members, like Senior or Hero Members, it can create big inequalities. For example a freshly ranked Senior Member is now getting the same merit score as someone who has already been a Senior Member for almost half a year and is about to become a Hero. Even more dramatic would be the case of a Hero who has already the activity to be a Legendary but the random system did not grant him the rank yet. A more fair way to distribute the inital merit would be to calculate it proportionally to the actual activity. This would avoid that people like me (I don't want to make it personal but I'm the first example which comes to my mind) who is missing only 4 points of activity (and 5 days) to the rank of Hero Member, instead of getting, let's say 470-480 merits (instead of the 500 of people who already are Heroes), is getting only 250 merits like someone who has just ranked Senior Member 10 days ago, and instead of 5 days it may now suddenly take me years before I can become a Hero - how many very good posts has one to do before he gets 250 merits? If you receive one merit every 4 post you do (on average you are likely to get less IMO) it will take you 1000 more posts to rank up from Senior to Hero, and if you like me were only 4 points of activity from that target, and now suddenly you need another 1000 posts, to say that this is becoming extremely frustrating is a big understatement. On the other side, with a more proportional and balanced initial distribution of merits I think nobody would feel that the system is penalizing them more than it penalizes others - which means people would be more inclined to recognize its substantial fairness, or at least that every effort has been done to achieve the maximum possible fairness.

You've summed this up brillianlty well.  I want to give merit but its crazy scarce. 

Thank you for your intention anyway Your answer actually proves my point. It will take an endless time for anyone to get the Merits necessary to rank up, since sMerits are so extremly deflationary. Every time someone sends sMerit half of them get "burned". If you send me 10 sMerits I will get 10 Merit + only 5 sMerits that I can use myself. This means sMerits supply will soon get down to zero. So again, an endless time to rank up might be not a rethoric figure but a precise depiction of reality. I understand that there will be a few "elected" ones who will be able to create limited quantity of sMerits out of thin air, but whoever they might be, how will they use their power of choice? I hope this will not lead to a sort of feudalism in Bitcointalk, that would really spoil any pleasure to be here for any person with some dignity.

[athanz88]

So can I...continue posting, ooooor?

damn man you are already at 1k merit, congrats

please kindly do my poll at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2822349.msg28909933#msg28909933

[Head_Miner]

Interesting idea. So this merit system is similar to a social media like correct?

I like the idea because it will make it harder for individuals to farm and sell accounts.

Now they sell not only accounts, but merrits as well

[minifrij]

So can I...continue posting, ooooor?

Only if the next post of yours is revealing all of your alt accounts. The gangsta's eyes are always watching.

[QuestionAuthority]

Merit & new rank requirements
January 24, 2018, 11:00:11 PM
Merited by minerjones (50), Palider (50), Kiritsugu (40), crwth (32), Angelo Santos (31), ny2cafuse (25), notaek (25), Avirunes (25), OgNasty (23), mprep (20), ltcrstrbrt (20), Betwrong (20), batang_bitcoin (20), Sponsoredby15 (18), InvoKing (16), Vod (15), --Encrypted-- (15), BicolIsarog (13), BlackMambaPH (12), Jeremycoin (11), DarkStar_ (11), deadley (10), izanagi narukami (10), harizen (10), SFR10 (10), chichidori (10), Zocadas (10), jerald125 (10), suchmoon (7), Foxpup (6), monbux (6), yahoo62278 (5), numanoid (5), nydiacaskey01 (5), actmyname (5), MintCondition (5), fearcoka (5), BlockEye (5), bL4nkcode (5), mnightwaffle (5), jhenfelipe (5), akamit (5), Mapagmahal (5), Yatsan (5), Dahman El_Harrachi (5), Cacingkemi (5), Cloudpost (5), Blake_Last (5), ReLieD (5), krogothmanhattan (5), rjbtc2017 (5), Arteezy.rtx (5), liviux (5), npredtorch (4), btcton (3), ralle14 (3), SparkyU (3), hatshepsut93 (3), julerz12 (3), fcmatt (2), newinbtc (2), Strongkored (2), jtipt (2), Dudeperfect (2), Tyrantt (2), Indrawan77 (2), marlboroza (2), TheGodFather (2), gandame (2), Soranith (2), Astvile (2), Xenrise (2), Maykl (2), BlackRock (2), SoulBargain (2), llyfee4u (2), katinko (2), grue (1), EFS (1), vapourminer (1), pawel7777 (1), AGD (1), tyz (1), saddampbuh (1), zazarb (1), rozee (1), eternalgloom (1), Patatas (1), RealPhotoshoper (1), bitcoin revo (1), LoyceV (1), examplens (1), anirgu (1), stingers (1), richardsNY (1), Lucius (1), Pipesnake (1), pugman (1), mrcash02 (1), Kolder (1), JanpriX (1), Last of the V8s (1), r1d1 (1), shield132 (1), psycodad (1), bill gator (1), Loganota (1), free-bit.co.in (1), Mountaingoat (1), 5tift (1), max2000irc (1), bitcoinsforall (1), Gelbstich (1), pangu (1), ajqjjj (1), Oceat (1), 8Habits (1), anorganix (1), solosequenosenada (1), SamsungBitcoin (1), undeadbitcoiner (1), leonix007 (1), hanifhadzar (1), okissabam (1), Tara11 (1), Bitfort (1), entrepmind23 (1), 0t3p0t (1), shadowdio (1), bitcoinblog (1), Anon11073 (1), Baofeng (1), kissmarx (1), Cobalt9317 (1), Chris314 (1), LouVandetta (1), Bagaji (1), vinc3 (1), Kawasanz (1), Be_Happy (1), Toxic2040 (1), JayCue (1), caneca (1), DU18 (1), Delphinus (1), pinoyden (1), L1544 (1), josephpogi (1), Chrystora123 (1), Piratte (1), alisafidel58 (1), bbcolex (1), yojodojo21 (1), moamin77 (1), kurian (1), Gracechen17 (1), shesheboy (1), wanispwnz (1), imstillthebest (1), kier010 (1), shoreno (1), dirgayeah (1), HEWRA (1), blacksky (1), jhongzjhong (1), xXLimbXx (1), felipe04 (1), nioctiB#1 (1), mak2017 (1), rommelzkie (1), seven2smoke1 (1), LogitechMouse (1), cepedacharles29 (1), orionluckyse7en (1), kidsuzudn (1), ferrybitcoin.1996 (1), aervin11 (1), Deathgamer (1), cryptovagas (1), RakelA96 (1), hothot (1), zenrol28 (1), pranazzs (1), Godric-Gryffindor (1), WUWARAOLUOXIANG (1), Stamil (1), spiderm4n15 (1), jesoa (1), Tristan1337 (1), iasenko (1), dxbcoin (1), Shiroxx (1), kingjackoin (1), EnterTheLight (1), Pantoflascrypt017 (1)

Look at all these people using trying to use the scarce merits properly! I sure hope theymos doesn't let his sMerits points decay and merits some mere mortal member comments  .. 
oh .. If you enjoy this post, don't forget to merit, reply, and subscribe. It really helps me out!

Wow, begging for merit in the merit announcement thread. Thanks for that! I just laughed so hard I shot the chocolate milk I was drinking out my nose.

[bapp]

I like this system, kudos (or merits) to theymos. cheers!

Got one little suggestion. I can see some threads getting flooded with merit points which will take up too much space. This very thread is an example where this is starting. I think it would be a good idea to add some sort of "see more" to view the full list once it's beginning to look too full.

[djangocoin]

Thank you for your intention anyway Your answer actually proves my point. It will take an endless time for anyone to get the Merits necessary to rank up, since sMerits are so extremly deflationary. Every time someone sends sMerit half of them get "burned". If you send me 10 sMerits I will get 10 Merit + only 5 sMerits that I can use myself. This means sMerits supply will soon get down to zero. So again, an endless time to rank up might be not a rethoric figure but a precise depiction of reality. I understand that there will be a few "elected" ones who will be able to create limited quantity of sMerits out of thin air, but whoever they might be, how will they use their power of choice? I hope this will not lead to a sort of feudalism in Bitcointalk, that would really spoil any pleasure to be here for any person with some dignity.

You seem to be in good spirits about it. Am surprised you're not pissed like all the others that just missed out. I mean 4activity away from becoming hero! that must sting some?

[Deena]

Now they sell not only accounts, but merrits as well

And a few are given the power to limitlessly sell merit points. 'Hurray' I hear the chosen ones say.