Vital Facts and Figures about Merit Point System.(Answers to your Queries)

[SM23031997]

I don't think it will make an effect on spammers,it will just Kill The Member ranks and below
It's almost impossible to get that number of merits to rank up, and don't tell me to make a high quality posts or topics
Even if i did from where i'll get that champion whose gonna make a +1 merit!! There's no guarantee of that +1
just want to say to MEMBER RANKS and below
GET READY TO STAY IN YOUR RANK FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS!

Don't worry, Conditions will get clear pretty soon.
Account farmers try to sell merit points and accounts with good rank, and in the process some get caught red handed while others get caught later. All in all only real users able to make to the last. Yes, there are chances we see some members leaving the forum in the process but the step only benefit the forum at last.

[1713941897]

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[1713941897]

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[1713941897]

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[Husires]

Will there be new Limits on PMs for Merit Point System?
it will be better to add

• Recent merits
• Top-merited recent topics
• Top-merited topics, all-time
• Top-merited recent replies
• Top-merited replies, all-time
• Top-merited users, recent merit
• Top-merited users, all-time
• Most generous recent merit senders
• Most generous merit senders, all time

[jambola2]

Thanks for collating the information on merits. I see something that might be a minor error though.

I think this:

Q. Do merits decay ?
A. Not for now, but if people start to hoard, it would be implemented. (Response by theymos)

refers to sMerits, and not Merits.

Quoting my Merits page:

You have received a total of 1000 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 78 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 might want to update that in your original post.

[secondgarlic]

I have a question which I think hasn't been addressed yet: Why should anyone give merit? What is the incentive behind it?

I understand that we are trying to implement a system similar to reddit where people are motivated to make high quality posts in order to get upvotes, but the way reddit displays posts is so different than us. Redditors are motivated to upvote posts because high quality posts always appear on top, so whichever thread I go to, I'm likely to see high quality posts at the top. That means it is in my interest to upvote good posts because I always want to see good posts at the top.

But this is a forum and no matter what the merit count of a post is, it will always be in the same position, so giving merit is not affecting anybody's user experience on this forum. As such, I feel like there will be a huge lack of merit, especially for relatively new users, because no one will feel the need to hand out merit.

So in summary, my question once again: Why would anyone give anyone merit?

Thanks in advance for anyone's response to this question.

[gopaljiverma]

So in summary, my question once again: Why would anyone give anyone merit?

Thanks in advance for anyone's response to this question.

Merit sources need to give those Smerits (about 9000 per month) otherwise they expire. It is mentioned that if hoarding of merits is seen in future, they might be nullified.

[secondgarlic]

So in summary, my question once again: Why would anyone give anyone merit?

Thanks in advance for anyone's response to this question.

Merit sources need to give those Smerits (about 9000 per month) otherwise they expire. It is mentioned that if hoarding of merits is seen in future, they might be nullified.

My question still stands: What happens if they expire? Even if I had millions of sMerits which I could give to people every day, why should I give merits? Giving out merits is not changing my life in any way.

[gopaljiverma]

My question still stands: What happens if they expire? Even if I had millions of sMerits which I could give to people every day, why should I give merits? Giving out merits is not changing my life in any way.

You should give merits so as to encourage quality posts on the forum. This will help new members to rank up. There is no monetary benefit for this. But if everybody starts thinking the same, you will also remain stuck at current level. Hope you got the point.

[secondgarlic]

My question still stands: What happens if they expire? Even if I had millions of sMerits which I could give to people every day, why should I give merits? Giving out merits is not changing my life in any way.

You should give merits so as to encourage quality posts on the forum. This will help new members to rank up. There is no monetary benefit for this. But if everybody starts thinking the same, you will also remain stuck at current level. Hope you got the point.

I get the point alright, but I think it won't work, because you are relying on the benevolence of total strangers who are supposed to do you a favor even though they gain absolutely nothing from it. Especially when you consider that there isn't enough merit to go around in the first place.

[Maum]

If I may ask some question,
So the rank up system is now connected to the merit system, four days from now updates for activities will happen.
For those who are about to rank up, will it be postponed because of not having enough merit?

Another thing is how would anyone manage to give sMerit to everyone who deserves it without getting sunked in threads?

Sorry if ever I have bad English.

I know how bad you guys are feeling at the time but believe me with time spammers will be out of the game, account farmers won't able to manipulated things anymore. These things will benefit the loyal members of the forum, members with long relationship with forum able to achieve new landmarks.

I don't think it will make an effect on spammers,it will just Kill The Member ranks and below
It's almost impossible to get that number of merits to rank up, and don't tell me to make a high quality posts or topics
Even if i did from where i'll get that champion whose gonna make a +1 merit!! There's no guarantee of that +1
just want to say to MEMBER RANKS and below
GET READY TO STAY IN YOUR RANK FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS!

You needn't neccessarily make high quality posts, that you are thinking of. Also helpful replies are worth to get Merits. I saw already short but helpful answers, that were merited.

[coly20032003]

Can we only get Merits by high quality posts?

Some random ideas, maybe we can add more ways to get merit, for example, complete certain tasks, stay online for a certain amount of time, etc. 

[Potato Chips]

Can we only get Merits by high quality posts?

Some random ideas, maybe we can add more ways to get merit, for example, complete certain tasks, stay online for a certain amount of time, etc. 

Think of it this way, The main purpose of this merit system is to encourage users to create quality posts/posts that actually contributes. How are we gonna do that if you can get merits without creating quality posts?

[CodyAlfaridzi]

I get the point alright, but I think it won't work, because you are relying on the benevolence of total strangers who are supposed to do you a favor even though they gain absolutely nothing from it. Especially when you consider that there isn't enough merit to go around in the first place.

Good point. There's no/low incentive for people (especially merit sources) to merit others, besides moral obligation of course. This could potentially clog the whole system. The easy fix would be adding more merit source and hope they will keep giving their sMerit to the community. The current condition is definitely not balanced, there are too few merit sources compared to the rate of new posts being made. I hope some new tweaks and addition of merit sources will bring this system to equilibrium.

[SM23031997]

Sorted the list. Reading it now will give much better experience.

Thanks for collating the information on merits. I see something that might be a minor error though.

I think this:

Q. Do merits decay ?
A. Not for now, but if people start to hoard, it would be implemented. (Response by theymos)

refers to sMerits, and not Merits.

Quoting my Merits page:

You have received a total of 1000 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 78 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 might want to update that in your original post.

Thanks, Updated.

[LoyceV]

I get the point alright, but I think it won't work, because you are relying on the benevolence of total strangers who are supposed to do you a favor even though they gain absolutely nothing from it.

You're wrong here: I gain a lot from improving the post quality on this forum.
I have reported many bad posts, and the spam only got worse. I see Merits as the opposite: I can now reward good posts! Of course I'll keep doing that. I already think a Jr. Member with 35 Merit has much more interesting posts to read than a Legendary with exactly 1000 Merit (which means nobody gave anything to more than 1000 posts).

[13ex07]

I have a question which I think hasn't been addressed yet: Why should anyone give merit? What is the incentive behind it?

I understand that we are trying to implement a system similar to reddit where people are motivated to make high quality posts in order to get upvotes, but the way reddit displays posts is so different than us. Redditors are motivated to upvote posts because high quality posts always appear on top, so whichever thread I go to, I'm likely to see high quality posts at the top. That means it is in my interest to upvote good posts because I always want to see good posts at the top.

But this is a forum and no matter what the merit count of a post is, it will always be in the same position, so giving merit is not affecting anybody's user experience on this forum. As such, I feel like there will be a huge lack of merit, especially for relatively new users, because no one will feel the need to hand out merit.

So in summary, my question once again: Why would anyone give anyone merit?

Thanks in advance for anyone's response to this question.

I completely support and I consider it a question one of the most important. The answer to him it isn't received yet. I consider that the lack of encouragement for expenditure of smerit, does innovations not answering stated purposes.

[Ayston]

I's just  to this replies, people, why don't you read carefully the thread before asking same question again and again and have the details be understand by you first before asking a question that obviously the answer is already there?? 

[secondgarlic]

I get the point alright, but I think it won't work, because you are relying on the benevolence of total strangers who are supposed to do you a favor even though they gain absolutely nothing from it.

You're wrong here: I gain a lot from improving the post quality on this forum.
I have reported many bad posts, and the spam only got worse. I see Merits as the opposite: I can now reward good posts! Of course I'll keep doing that. I already think a Jr. Member with 35 Merit has much more interesting posts to read than a Legendary with exactly 1000 Merit (which means nobody gave anything to more than 1000 posts).

I would agree with you if there was an easy way to identify these posts, like sorting posts in a thread by merit; which probably wouldn't make much sense in a forum setting as well because the order of the posts is integral to understanding what is being discussed. As such, in its current state, I'm not convinced how merits are going to improve the quality of discussions in an average thread.

[coly20032003]

Q: If someone is a Member, and he got 30 sMerits by default, after they use the 30 sMerits, is it like gone forever? Or they will be given a few new sMerits every day?

[coly20032003]

Hi SM23031997,

Thank you so much for the post. I find it very detailed and clear, now I have a much better idea about the new merit system.

Also, I translated your post to Chinese and post in our local section so that our local community will also get better understanding about the new system and try to make high quality posts.   

Link to my post: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2829839   

[DarkStar_]

Q: If someone is a Member, and he got 30 sMerits by default, after they use the 30 sMerits, is it like gone forever? Or they will be given a few new sMerits every day?

They are gone. You can only get more sMerits by being a merit source, or when others give you merits. (You get 1 sMerit for every two merits that you get)