I posted similar thoughts in a merit thread in the Beginners & Help forum board but I will share my thoughts on merit here as well.
I've found that it's very difficult to get merit here. The system appears to favor people who were already here and established in the Bitcointalk forum when it was introduced (I believe only at the start of the year?).
The system is made of the merit sources and the members of the forum of which the former is also a part of the latter. Everyone who is in the system is a human. Thus the favouring will be there. This is what we have been lacking in the forum for 2-3 years now. People reply to topics without even seeing what others say. We dont care about who the above us is - even though I agree the number of members is also big but still there is not sort of personal interaction through the posts.
It has ended up creating a barrier for newbies and new people who visit Bitcointalk as many do not receive any merit from the small portion of members who can distribute it.
Punishment for the bounty spammers.
The system (and merit givers themselves) also favors English speakers or people who have a well-developed English vocabulary. There are much fewer merit givers in the local / foreign language boards and they are much less populated. This has been confirmed by several merit-givers who have created their own threads on this. It's basically a form of discrimination against foreigners.
Get used to it or better yet leave the forum.
I find it quite puzzling that a forum that's been around for years, and based on decentralized networks and cryptocurrency, has managed to adopt and implement a centralized and archaic system of forum rewards that favor a select few. It's both ironic and hypocritical!
The only hypocrite is you. The forum has its problems and the problem of spam control has gone so far that the mods are unable to control it anymore and admins had to take this harsh step.
I've been here since late last year and haven't been able to acquire a single merit point. I don't have the English barrier problem as English is my native language.
Why do you even need those merit points? So keen on ranking up I see.
![Roll Eyes](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif)
What makes it even more difficult for newbies and Jr Members is that there is an unwritten rule not to beg for merit... so you can't even ask for it. That will most likely just get you blocked from merit givers or possibly a -1 Trust (?)
Written rule by theymos and the mods in the stickies. Read before you post.
I honestly think the whole system needs to be rehashed or redeveloped so that everyone has a chance to get merit (or maybe just turf out the whole system altogether??).
The system is working fine. The only thing is we need more merit sources.
The global blockchain and cryptocurrency industry still has a lot of room to grow with new people entering crypto markets and looking up websites for info every month. Judging by some of the arrogant and judgemental responses from the Hero and Sr Members in this thread, if this and the other reasons above results in the reception they can expect to get from a popular forum board, what message does it send to them??
![Roll Eyes](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif)
Being one of those people - I can assure you one thing. We are tired of seeing the spam in the forum. Thus the radical measure.
It comes off as being very cliquey, protective and insular! There has to be a better way.
No.