Why the merit system is heavily lopsided in favour of older users

[Lauda]

Hello, Alia, you sly meretrix.  When I first saw this thread, I thought to challenge you on a friendly wager for which of us would reach 100 merit first—or to make it interesting, on double stakes, for which of us would reach 200 first.  Given the splash you made with a two-day-old account, I expected that surely, I would see you here with us other “outliers” someday.  Yet now, I must call on you to do your duty in making the forum great again.  For unto you is the destiny of becoming an historic forum first:  The first-ever and only user to perform public sexual favours after losing what was effectually a bet against her own posting prowess.

Alas, you’ve been slacking off.  Though you made an earnest start, your rate of earning merit has dropped off sharply; and the days now fly by as we approach the 30-day deadline of 2018-03-01 00:52:43 UTC.  Bad girl.
-snip-
Alia, the forum needs for you to lose your bet against yourself—and not simply for the promised payout.  Foremost, it needs those posts.  Moreover, it needs for this story to reach its climax.  Let Legendaries a few years hence reminisce over the legend of the girl who bet she couldn’t earn 100 merit in a month, and thus wound up publicly demonstrating a merit infographic fetish.  For you, such a unique forum achievement would also come with bragging rights (just as I boast being only member of this forum who has ever received +50 for a flame, as a cry from the one being burnt).  Put out, but don’t let yourself down here!

This writing of this post. Unfortunately, you are not a cat. Somehow I started reading your response prior to discovering the thread and got sidetracked due to *you-know-who*. I didn't notice any of the core things in your post as I flew through it. As for the bet, I've finally found it. In case that someone is confused, the bet is here

Now, as of the moment I post this, I have exactly 48 sMerit—all legitimately earned by me through meritorious posting, and as yet unspent (unlike the 145 merits I have already distributed to others).

287 over here, minus the two that I just gave you for that post.
The rest I shall not comment individually due to certain reasons. *blushes*

[1714614793]

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[zool2003]

You wouldn't have gotten 100 merit based on a few days. If you had joined ~60 days earlier, then you might've gotten 10 merit.

I acknowledge that it is in some sense unfair when people missed out on a lot of free merit even though they were very close to rank-up. I considered several methods of progressive merit distribution that would've addressed this, but I felt that it'd always end up giving far more merit to people who didn't deserve it than people who did, so I kept the distribution to just the minimum required to avoid demotions.

I guess it has been done in the most efficient way possible, but that still doesn't make it perfect :') as I said, it is a good system. But it does leave the noobs like me a little bit butthurt. Welp, let's hope people like my posts!

You're a Newbie but already have 9 Merit... This system seems working for you 

I think I'm an outlier. If I have 100 merit in 30 days, I'll eat all my words and post a vid of me masturbating to a merit infographic

Lets hope that masturbating for merits becomes more popular than being constructive. I would bet that you are going to need to start looking for a suitable merit info-graphic soon! 

[Cryptodiscuss]

I dont have problem with merit, if nothing else it made me do more research and improve my knowledge. I was also hit with merit sistem in the last moment and stay with 0! But in the long term it is good thing, for myself and for the forum. But I have problem with bunch of "red" members with hundreds and thousand of merit, who got their merit regardless if they bought their acc or scamed people etc. and now can sell merit and abuse the system, and talk about honesty! I will do my research because of me and not for merit, but some things are just not fair.

[nullius]

Hello, Alia, you sly meretrix. [...]

This writing of this post. Unfortunately, you are not a cat. [...]

The rest I shall not comment individually due to certain reasons. *blushes*

Ribald feline puns come to mind; but for the sake of forum decorum, I shall restrain myself to this:

Lauda, you’re one of the first people who caught my eye when I started lurking here and scratching through the forum archives.  I was astonished to see a cat in odd goggles pouncing on spammers and scammers as if a lioness on the hunt.  I characteristically admire the strong, the unwavering, those who make demands and meet them—they who sign in boldface, “...will not be compromised.”  In a man, that is the mark of a general; in a woman, ’tis the uncommon quality common to countess and queen.  And I know well the rule that a cat’s practical efficiency may be judged by polling the opinions of vermin.

Your strength on the prowl as a “GrumpyKitty” is matched only by a sinuous style which marks you as a pretty kitty, no less.  I’ve hereto “meowed” at your fearsome growl.  It’s not only my pleasure, but also a rare honour to have here made you purr; moreover, the discovery that cats can blush is both personally and scientifically fascinating to me.

Cheers.

287 over here, minus the two that I just gave you for that post.

If some of your time could be cleared up from wastage by “*you-know-who*”, may I suggest that you spend both time and sMerit in Dev & Tech.  There, the merit system has evolved into a de facto peer review system for technical accuracy and usefulness.  Given the amount of misinformation and disinformation spewed across the Net about technology in general and Bitcoin most of all, this is important.  Users can almost automatically trust the technical accuracy of any post awarded merit by achow101 (moderator), DannyHamilton, or LoyceV.  There are a few other excellent posters and merit-givers; I here list only those who seem to be the very most active, so as to avoid slighting the expertise of others.  (Obviously, any post awarded merit by gmaxwell is sterling information; alas, his overt forum presence is a rarity.)

[Shaminyue]

This is not a rant about why merit sucks; imo it's a good and interesting system, but the amount of bias that comes into play is insane. For example, when I joined the forum, the merit system was already implemented. It is already evident to me that it is very hard to get merit, much less get to 100 or 1000. But, had I stayed on the forum only 4-5 days before merit was implemented, and had I posted around a bit, when the merit system rolled in I would have automatically gotten 100 merit points - something that now takes weeks, if not months of quality posting.

For Members and above, it's really no biggie, since they get free merit. But for newbies like myself, getting to the next rank is exponentially higher because you really have to grind. Grinding isn't bad... but imo it's really unfair. Just a mini-rant.

I'm also a newbie in bitcointalk forum, however, I'm not lucky as you I took a long holiday from the end of Jan and I was so surprised about ranking system with merit points when I came back (although it has been launched for almost a month). I felt that I missed the game and it would be difficult for me now to get a merit point from others. I saw you already got some (cheer with what you have had). I would try myself more to contribute more valuable thought to get it

[alia]

This is not a rant about why merit sucks; imo it's a good and interesting system, but the amount of bias that comes into play is insane. For example, when I joined the forum, the merit system was already implemented. It is already evident to me that it is very hard to get merit, much less get to 100 or 1000. But, had I stayed on the forum only 4-5 days before merit was implemented, and had I posted around a bit, when the merit system rolled in I would have automatically gotten 100 merit points - something that now takes weeks, if not months of quality posting.

For Members and above, it's really no biggie, since they get free merit. But for newbies like myself, getting to the next rank is exponentially higher because you really have to grind. Grinding isn't bad... but imo it's really unfair. Just a mini-rant.

I'm also a newbie in bitcointalk forum, however, I'm not lucky as you I took a long holiday from the end of Jan and I was so surprised about ranking system with merit points when I came back (although it has been launched for almost a month). I felt that I missed the game and it would be difficult for me now to get a merit point from others. I saw you already got some (cheer with what you have had). I would try myself more to contribute more valuable thought to get it

It's actually not that hard. Just keep posting!

[SM23031997]

I think I'm an outlier. If I have 100 merit in 30 days, I'll eat all my words and post a vid of me masturbating to a merit infographic

I'll help you to reach that on 28 Feb in case if you won't able to cross that mark before that(Although, I'm pretty sure you will be there before time).

[zool2003]

I think I'm an outlier. If I have 100 merit in 30 days, I'll eat all my words and post a vid of me masturbating to a merit infographic

I'll help you to reach that on 28 Feb in case if you won't able to cross that mark before that(Although, I'm pretty sure you will be there before time).

9 merit in less than 24 hours it will be done a week early!

[akamit]

It's nice to see a Newbie with more Merit than Activity! Welcome to Bitcointalk, glad you joined!

But for newbies like myself, getting to the next rank is exponentially higher because you really have to grind. Grinding isn't bad... but imo it's really unfair. Just a mini-rant.

The Merit system is meant to stop spammers from ranking up. You're doing just fine, and clearly you're not part of the many users that create random useless posts.

You may want to read Merit is the best thing that happened to new users too. Thanks to the Merit system, you're now not just one out of thousands of Newbies who register each day, you're now one of the few Newbies who's posts can easily be recognized to be worth reading.

Well, if you put it that way, it makes perfect sense. Interestingly enough, my love for the merit system is directly proportional to the number of merit points I have 

I agree with Loyce.

Pulled out 18 days old post just to say that you are good and you are doing better than me.
The way you are getting merits, I think you will achieve Hero rank before I achieve Legendary. The way I'm progressing, at least 5 years more needed to achieve Legendary rank.

Just follow the QUALITY and Merits will follow you.

[nullius]

I think I'm an outlier. If I have 100 merit in 30 days, I'll eat all my words and post a vid of me masturbating to a merit infographic

Hello, Alia, you sly meretrix....

Alas, you’ve been slacking off.  Though you made an earnest start, your rate of earning merit has dropped off sharply; and the days now fly by as we approach the 30-day deadline of 2018-03-01 00:52:43 UTC.  Bad girl.

The Famous Post	2018-01-30 00:52:43
100th Merit	2018-02-23 04:57:08

3 weeks, 3 days, 4 hours, 4 minutes, 25 seconds.

Code:

$ bc
24*86400 + 4*3600 + 4*60 + 25
2088265

Congratulations, Alia.  An outlier you are, indeed.

(Good girl.)

[LoyceV]

I think I'm an outlier. If I have 100 merit in 30 days, I'll eat all my words and post a vid of me masturbating to a merit infographic

Congratulations, Alia.  An outlier you are, indeed.

Hey, I wanted to post this!
Well, then let me point out it's this exact post that got her the 100th Merit from PoolMinor:

Code:

]Today at 05:57:08 AM: 8 from PoolMinor for Re: Why the merit system is heavily lopsided in favour of older users

I'm starting to wonder what "a vid" is, according to Google images, it's grapes!

Any offers for when you reach 250?

Did you just get your nickname changed? Theymos must really like you!

[SM23031997]

Did you just get your nickname changed? Theymos must really like you!

Maybe Theymos getting free special video session for that?

Any offers for when you reach 250?

Yeah, love to hear new promise from her.

[alia]

I think I'm an outlier. If I have 100 merit in 30 days, I'll eat all my words and post a vid of me masturbating to a merit infographic

Congratulations, Alia.  An outlier you are, indeed.

Hey, I wanted to post this!
Well, then let me point out it's this exact post that got her the 100th Merit from PoolMinor:

Code:

]Today at 05:57:08 AM: 8 from PoolMinor for Re: Why the merit system is heavily lopsided in favour of older users

I'm starting to wonder what "a vid" is, according to Google images, it's grapes!

Any offers for when you reach 250?

Did you just get your nickname changed? Theymos must really like you!

I've had a situation where my account username was known by some people in my real life - which sucks because I had a bunch of nudes on this account. Bad timing for me to hit 100 merit. But, I'll keep my promise, and when I feel it is safe I'll be posting that vid for a short time. The username change was necessary to prevent something like that from happening again. Love you theymos <3

[DannyHamilton]

Users can almost automatically trust the technical accuracy of any post awarded merit by . . . DannyHamilton . . .

This is not entirely true.

Per my merit sending policy page, I am generally willing to award a small amount of merit to any user that I believe is making an honest effort to learn:

- snip -

• I don't care how good (or bad) your english or grammar is.  If you are sincerely trying to learn, or helping with CORRECT information where you can, then you deserve merit.
• - snip -
• Being ACTUALLY helpful in the Bitcoin Technical Support or Development & Technical Discussion sub-forums (without a signature ad) will VERY LIKELY earn you merit from me.
• Asking well thought out questions in the Bitcoin Technical Support or Development & Technical Discussion sub-forums (without a signature ad) with a sincere interest in learning about something specific that confuses you will VERY LIKELY earn you merit from me.
  

- snip -

A post doesn't need to have high technical accuracy to earn merit from me.  It simply needs to be helpful, and reasonably correct, or needs to be a reasonable attempt to learn.  I will reply to the thread with additional details if I feel that the merited post isn't 100% accurate or leaves open questions.

[concatmedial8]

If it was in my hands i would give merits to both the newbies and the already remained members but according to their rank. Higher rank lesser merit

[knackergays8]

I didnt know about this discrimination yet? and if it is so then though i am a member since before the system was implied i havent got any merits

[yojodojo21]

For Members and above, it's really no biggie, since they get free merit. But for newbies like myself, getting to the next rank is exponentially higher because you really have to grind. Grinding isn't bad... but imo it's really unfair. Just a mini-rant.

I think it's unfair to allow people to rank up by spamming and posting in activity periods. This system might not be perfect, but it's already showing that it's effective against account farming and encouraging users to post more constructively.  

Indeed it is, but if you read what he wrote with understanding, you'd realize he was saying the system is good, but a lot of members ranked up by spamming and posting, which is true.

It really isn't fair that someone with 120 activity starts with a 100 Merits, and one with 112 activity starts with 10 Merits.

A lot of us probably wouldn't be Legendaries or Heroes if the Merit system was here from the beginning.
Theymos probably didn't want to degrade all of us back to 0, but it would probably be the most fair option if all of us started from 0 Merits.
We still have the upper-hand because we have enough activity to rank up, and some older posts someone will eventually read and perhaps spend some sMerits.
I'm getting annoyed by everyone talking to newbies like they're the scum of the earth.
First listen, then talk.
EDIT: Okay, the edit you made kind of changes the context, now that's a nice reply.
Not like much I've read here so far.

I really Like the Idea of implementing merit as a new feature to lessen scammers of alt accounts that abuse signature campaigns, but what you say is a fair way, so maybe admin should've given the merit starting from zero so that it would be fair and square, but still He is the administrator of this forum so we just have to respect what decision He may do.

merit sources have different taste, somebody like constructive, somebody also likes being honest. so all in all we just have to go with the flow, it's for the sake of the forum.

[Bessta]

I believe merit system was created to cleanse the forum and yes ranking up became harder to attain but posts made after the merit system are more sensible and helpful. A "change" for improvement is hard to accept at the  start of implementation but people will get used to the "change" as days pass by.

[krishnaverma]

I believe merit system was created to cleanse the forum and yes ranking up became harder to attain but posts made after the merit system are more sensible and helpful. A "change" for improvement is hard to accept at the  start of implementation but people will get used to the "change" as days pass by.

I do not agree to this completely. Some members are malign quality posts in hope of merits but rest are still spamming only. Also, as soon as a member gets the desired merits for next rank, he starts with past approach to increase activity. If you go thorough the recent discussions in bitcoin discussion or alt coin section, you will find a number of people posting one liners just to increase the post count.

[TMAN]

I think developers ae cunning because they want to keep the hold of the aleady memebers by giving them privileges

That is it - you are correct, it has nothing to do with shitposting, nothing to do with the forum being over run with total nonsense made up language, nothing to do with bots posting drivel and 100% nothing to do with people who post total shit like you?

could be wrong though!