Merit & new rank requirements

[Ronaktejani]

In addition to activity, everyone now has a merit score, and you need both a certain activity level and a certain merit score in order to reach higher member ranks. The required scores are:

Rank	Required activity	Required merit
Brand new	0	0
Newbie	1	0
Jr Member	30	1
Member	60	10
Full Member	120	100
Sr. Member	240	250
Hero Member	480	500
Legendary	Random in the range 775-1030	1000

You get merit points when someone sends you some for one of your posts. Additionally, when someone sends you merit points, half of those points can be sent by you to other people.

Certain users are designated as "merit sources". They can create new merit out of nothing, up to a limited number per month (which differs per source). I will not be posting a definitive list of merit sources (so that people don't bug them too much), though you'll soon figure out who they are if you pay attention.

There is currently no such thing as a "demerit". I'm hoping that the positive merits alone will be fine. I could add demerits pretty easily later on if necessary, though.

I'm hoping that this system will increase post quality by:
 - Forcing people to post high-quality stuff in order to rank up. If you just post garbage, you will never get even 1 merit point, and you will therefore never be able to put links in your signature, etc.
 - Highlighting good posts with the "Merited by" line.

While we will not be directly moderating this, I encourage people to give merit to posts that are objectively high-quality, not just posts that you agree with.

Do not beg for merit excessively.

Useful infographics

Forum users have helpfully created some infographics to explain the merit system:
paxmao's infographic
ibminer's infographic
8Habits's infographic
JetSet11's infographic
zentdex's infographic
alia_armelle's infographic

If you want to be a merit source:

 1. Be a somewhat established member.
 2. Collect TEN posts written in the last couple of months by other people that have not received nearly enough merit for how good they are, and post quotes for them all in a new Meta thread. The point of this is to demonstrate your ability to give out merit usefully.
 3. We will take a look at your history and maybe make you a source.

I am especially eager to have merit sources in sub-communities such as the local sections.

Trivia:

For current members, your initial merit score is equal to the minimum required to 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.

If someone sends you 1 merit, the 0.5 sMerit is not wasted; it is just not shown until you get another merit point.

There are stats here, and you can find someone's merit summary by clicking the "merit" link on their profile.

the list you put here are the real legendary of bitcointalk.
great to see them all with 1000s posts. thanks. really useful.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Can I ask something? Who were the first members that automatically gained some merit points? And how many merit points were given? Different to each merit source?

[Harkorede]

Can I ask something? Who were the first members that automatically gained some merit points? And how many merit points were given? Different to each merit source?

Initially activity was the only way to rank up, so the first set of members who had reached at least the minimum number of activity to rank up were those who got the first set of merits, and each of them were given the merits according to the new minimum required for each rank (as stated in the OP), this was determined by the number of activity they had.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Can I ask something? Who were the first members that automatically gained some merit points? And how many merit points were given? Different to each merit source?

Initially activity was the only way to rank up, so the first set of members who have reach at least the minimum number of activity were those who got the first set of merits, and each of them were given the merits according to the new minimum required for each rank, this was determined by the of activity they had.

Oh, so Admins achieved creating a number called "merit" that right now has value. Yes we cannot buy or sell them, but they are valuable.

I also have another question about bitcointalk admins. I think I'm gonna start a new topic about that. Thank you for your answer tho.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...> Who were the first members that automatically gained some merit points? And how many merit points were given? Different to each merit source?

In addition to what @Harkorede stated, there were also a group of Hero Members that received 1K Merits (instead of 500 Merits) during the Merit System kick-off.

Now asking about Merit Sources here, in the same context, may mean you are mixing-up Merits and sMerits. Your first question was about the initial Merits for each forum member (awarded to all forum accounts on the 25/01/2018, who were at least Member rank or above – Jr. Members did not require any merits back then), and Merit Sources are rather more about sMerits (sendable Merits).

Merits: Non-sendable, non-reducible (except on rare abuse circumstances).
sMerits: Sendable, reducible (when sending). You obtain 1 sMerit to send to others for every 2 earned Merits (which originate by somebody sending you sMerits in turn).

In addition to the initial Merits, forum members also received a variable sum of sMerits during the Merit System kick-off (depending on their rank and activity over the prior running year). Merit Sources’s sMerit monthly allowance differs from each other, and may vary over time (whenever allowances are revised.)  

[tranthidung]

If newbies are unclear about the merit system and its history, I have that thread to help.
One year anniversary of the merit system
See the details on extra 500 merits to some Hero members in the First adjustment section.

[PIOUPIOU99]

hallo ,
excuse me for disturbing, how to do it, so that my merits no longer exist, or delete my merits please. but I just want to keep my pseudonym/alias .
thank you, no debate just action.

[Csmiami]

hallo ,
excuse me for disturbing, how to do it, so that my merits no longer exist, or delete my merits please. but I just want to keep my pseudonym/alias .
thank you, no debate just action.

You... can't...? I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you are the first member to request such I thing.

I believe that theymos himself can do that, but I don't know if there's been any precedent (when the system was introduced with some abuse cases); but.... why would he....?

[BlackHatCoiner]

hallo ,
excuse me for disturbing, how to do it, so that my merits no longer exist, or delete my merits please. but I just want to keep my pseudonym/alias .
thank you, no debate just action.

Are you asking this thread how to get rid of your merit? I'm not gonna ask why. But you can give them to any member. I don't get the part with the pseudonym. You want to be anonymous and don't want to send them to anybody?

[PIOUPIOU99]

do to do , the debate does not interest me;) long and useless, just the action. Can I do it myself? where please. Thank you

[fillippone]

do to do , the debate does not interest me;) long and useless, just the action. Can I do it myself? where please. Thank you

No.

[PIOUPIOU99]

Thanks for answering me .
Why please, it is not planned? who can do it for me

[BlackHatCoiner]

Thanks for answering me .
Why please, it is not planned? who can do it for me

Just ask for account deletion. You have no other choice. At least if an admin does not accept your request.

[Csmiami]

Just ask for account deletion. You have no other choice. At least if an admin does not accept your request.

Accounts can't be deleted. The only way that he gets what he wants is that theymos hand removes all his merit; which I highly doubt he'll do because it's not a priority

[BlackHatCoiner]

Accounts can't be deleted.

That's another thing that makes this community even more unique.~

@PIOUPIOU, just share your merits to the people
Just kiddin.

[PIOUPIOU99]

Thanks Csmiami , I understand ,not a priority.

BlackHatCoiner I don't have smerit anymore ,just merits that cannot be given

thank you

[LoyceV]

hallo ,
excuse me for disturbing, how to do it, so that my merits no longer exist, or delete my merits please. but I just want to keep my pseudonym/alias .
thank you, no debate just action.

In more than 2 years since the introduction of Merit, this is a first! Have some Merit
You're not a shitposter, you deserve it. And there's nothing you can do about it, lol

[JayJuanGee]

hallo ,
excuse me for disturbing, how to do it, so that my merits no longer exist, or delete my merits please. but I just want to keep my pseudonym/alias .
thank you, no debate just action.

In more than 2 years since the introduction of Merit, this is a first! Have some Merit
You're not a shitposter, you don't deserve it. And there's nothing you can do about it, lol

I have seen all kinds of merit related ploys, nonsense, and even reverse psychology, so I doubt that this angle is really a "first"  (Edit:  Upon re-rereading your post, Loyce, I subsequently recognize that you could have been just tongue-in-cheek,.. but still, sometimes the subtlety of any joke can get lost..... and my initial reaction was that sending smerit kind of encourages creative merit begging, to some degree.. which is not necessarily a world-ending thing,... humor and all... humor comes in a lot of differing angles/flavors).

Anyhow, I did take some liberties to FTFY, Loyce.        

[BlackHatCoiner]

I think our friend here has found a way to get merit without asking them. And it worked  :

[PIOUPIOU99]

Hello, no really, that's not the question, I didn't ask any  motivation research is sneaky, it's not my approach.

I'm serious.

i have MP theymos asked last night.

Thank you for your help