Joe's Signatureless Challenge Archives

[suchmoon]

How many members are posting with a substantial quality and get no merits? if you are indirectly making other members and merit sources to spend their merits on a member with the same post quality of another unmerited member, you are by definition allowing a selected few to farm merits.

That doesn't make any sense at all. Nobody is "making" anyone do anything here.

To me this thread is a huge help because I can find members and posts that I otherwise have no chance of finding in the deluge of sewer that this forum is becoming. If there are quality members not getting merits please direct them to this thread or to other similar threads or send them your own sMerits. Be part of the solution.

[bill gator]

Just wondering on this one, Joe and Bill why not apply aswell?

I plan to, at some point, apply to be a merit source. It just seems like staff is swamped with applications for merit sources at this point and there is no shortage of merit to go around in my opinion. There are people entirely more qualified for me that have applied and have been waiting a long time for a response (LoyceV for example). I don't feel like throwing my application on their pile of work, given all these other criteria, is going to do anyone any good so I've been doing my best to understand the merit system better and get a feel for how it should be utilized. I've been involved with challenges, review threads and discussions about merit so that I know what I'm doing before I'm a staff selected merit source. There's been only minimal shortage of merit, and I haven't felt limited to a significant degree on the sMerit I can deliver so it's been a good experience to see what a regular user is going to experience. It just seems appropriate to use the system regularly before applying, and seeing if there is even a need for me to do so.

I can't speak for Joe, so I'd have to let him answer.

digaran, this all just seems like discussion for another place. If you would like to have this conversation then please feel free to start a thread where appropriate, or we can all discuss this in PM. Your concerns are invalid in my opinion; I think you're coming to the wrong conclusions while presenting them arrogantly.

Yup, the first place winner will receive $45 or $50! I have also decided that as long as the round begins with 25 valid participants, the cash prize for 3rd place will be available, even if users are disqualified during the round. The escrow should be fine for this week; I'm adding some more to it shortly. Thanks!

This is probably the best way to do it, that way nobody gets taken on an emotional roller coaster like last round. We've got the hefty prize this round, toughit is a quality user for donating their prize towards the pool. They're probably one of the top donors to the challenge at this point  

[BTCforJoe]

Thanks for the support, guys. This goes to show that there are, in fact, more people that understand the ideology behind this challenge. Is it ironic that the host is wearing a signature from a paid signature campaign? Absolutely, it is. Is it also ironic that the host himself is not a merit source? Again, absolutely. But I am putting up my own cash,amen my own merits, as many others are. The 8 merits that the only merit source sponsor provides is done so to quality posts that deserve merit. The moment that quality posts stop being produced by participants in this challenge is the moment that I will revisit the merit rewards. If you look in past posts, I have already expressed my concerns with the amount of merit being awarded via this challenge, and have also commmitted to revisiting the reward structure if and when the time arrives that the post quality becomes an issue. As of now, it’s a non-issue, so I appreciate the members who have recognized the overall value in this challenge, and having a roundup to find quality posts.

Are some of the posts by participants “garbage posts”? Yup. But rather than ignoring these posts, like most forum members do, I provide criticism to help these users to understand why their posts are considered lower than par. What they decide to do with that criticism is purely up to them, just like it’s purely up to the sponsors to do with their cash and merits as they deem fit.

If @digaran had his way, it seems apparent that he believes that only merit sources should be allowed to merit posts, period. Look at my sMerit history. I am not contributing to any so-called merit farming accounts. I do send merit responsibly.

@bill gator, you hit the nail on the head with your reply about becoming a merit source. I can only imagine that the staff have to review countless applications because of the newly-founded merit system. Obviously, they will make a few mistakes along the way, such as the mistake they made when making @digaran a merit source. But this, in no way, means that I am not spending my sMerit irresponsibly. In fact, I find that the method in which @digaran chooses not to award merits to be much more irresponsible than my method of utilizing this challenge to identify and award merits to deserving posts.

So much irony has been posted in the past several pages here, but it doesn’t seem that @digaran will stop with his skewed opinion, so I encourage everyone to stop addressing him at this point, and moving forward. I shall do the same.

Thanks to everyone for supporting this cause, and I look forward to reviewing all the posts of the Round 3 participants!

[Stedsm]

As promised, I've sent 2 merits to nullius for this post and I believe that it was their best one, however, this guy is one serious geek we need over this forum.
And, 1 more merit to Blue Tyrant as a consolation prize for this post.

I hope I am doing my job in kinda better way, sorry for being late as I was busy with something.

I would like to contribute more and will be rewarding 2nd place for Round 3 with 3 merits.

[charlie137]

i like the challenge and hope it will help to raise the quality bar and help with merit generation, that is so critical for most of the users now. it would be impossible to completely eliminate the chance of challenge abuse, but it might help a lot of users as well (i hope ))
https://live.blockcypher.com/btc/tx/839f421fb2dbc33348c27446253b706c4b23bef0ff85578d05c6cdc02030796b/

[digaran]

Thanks to everyone for supporting this cause, and I look forward to reviewing all the posts of the Round 3 participants!

Of course, thank others, I'm saying to all the sources, if you are not up for the task to help theymos, why did you sign up for it? if you were made a source without asking, yet you would like others to point you to quality posts, maybe theymos should reconsider and rethink that you are not a good choice to be selected as a source. if they have no desire to help you, I do and I am willing to put myself under the spotlight, given the merit stats are public and any abuse could disqualify me even from posting here.

Thanks for the support, guys. now lets gang bang this beggar who'd got lucky to become a source.

Yup, gang bang me. apparently I'm all alone in this and staff made a mistake to make me a source. mexxer-2 where are you man? I need more undeserved merits, these niggers are gang banging me. <Insert lols>.

This goes to show that there are, in fact, more people that understand the ideology behind this challenge.

Yes they do seem to favor laziness, find us quality posts and we'll award them merits. (my alt account joins the campaign and posts quality to get merits, account's price has increased exponentially).

so I appreciate the members who have recognized the overall value in this challenge, and having a roundup to find quality posts.

That's the thing, I don't think that theymos would appreciate this. the amount of merits in this challenge is extremely insignificant compared to the overall merits generated by sources. 25 members each posting a minimum of 7 posts, 175 in total. and how many merits they can win in total?

If @digaran had his way, it seems apparent that he believes that only merit sources should be allowed to merit posts, period.

Not my way, theymos has decided this, after everybody has spend their initial sMerits, only sources will remain the active spenders. but your method is wrong, you know for the fact that nobody with a high rank account enrolled in a sig campaign would ever join your challenge, they could earn way more than what you are offering. it leaves us with low ranks, you are providing a way for anybody to enrol with an alt account and post 7 high quality posts to get merits guaranteed.

I find that the method in which @digaran chooses not to award merits to be much more irresponsible than my method of utilizing this challenge to identify and award merits to deserving posts.

Which method are you talking about? because I have changed my method several times to find the best one. wouldn't it be irresponsible for me to merit campaign managers or my campaign mates? you haven't even applied to be a source, yet you are speaking of responsibility, nobody has expected you to spend your merits responsibly, as you'd like to call it "your own money and merits". it would've been much more expected if you were finding and identifying meritorious posts by yourself. instead you have chosen the wrong method, that is what I'm trying to tell you.

[DarkStar_]

RE: The whole merit source thing

First week merit rewards were paid out of my sMerits, not my source merits. I've been somewhat busy recently, so last week's came out of my source. My point is that this is not the only place I'm distributing merits. If you check the Most Generous Merit Sender stats, I am rank 11, which is above the majority of the sources. I'm also not that large of a source; I'm below average. If I had no starting/earned sMerits, I would not have been able to fulfill my end of the bargain for the first week.

Go complain that other merit sources aren't doing their job first, as there are quite a few people on the most merit sent list that are under the average monthly generation. They've burned their source merits, which I would say is much worse than meriting people for good posts. (I assume that was an attack at me, given that I'm the source sponsoring the first place prize for this challenge)

I've checked the posts of those who I've merited through this as well, and I agree that they are good posts, I would not be doing this otherwise. I don't think it would be wise or easy for Joe to farm his own accounts (assuming he has them) without posting "nullius style" posts, and if you were going to do that, you'd get merits anyway. The winners for the past 2 weeks deserve merits in my opinion. My "sponsorship", if you can even call it that is not guaranteed, I could technically pull out of it at any second. If only spammers were left, I'd definitely pull out.

[Indohunter]

BitcoinTalk Username: zangleerb

BitcoinTalk Username: DREWSKIE

Hello, @zangleerb and @DREWSKIE. Welcome to the challenge! Because you have missed the cutoff for Round 3, I have reserved you two spots for the next round (Round 4, beginning Sunday, March 25 6:00PM [GMT -6].

All other applicants have been accepted and added to the spreadsheet.

Unless I missed anyone (which could be the case, but I'll review the thread again), we are at 24 participants for Round 3. This means that there will not be a 3rd place cash prize.

Because of the emotional roller-coaster for the last round, I've decided that if we have 25 valid participants at the beginning of the round, the cash prize for 3rd prize will be available, even if a participant is disqualified throughout the round. I will re-visit this if this is abused, but I don't expect that will happen.

I apparently missed some posts here, as given the slight drama in the forums, so I'm going to go back and address all the posts that I have not already. Sit tight.

Hi Joe, seems like i'm late to join this chalenge.
Is there still have a chance for me to join or could you take me to your list for next round?
Glad to be here, very appreciate of your kind effort to newbie like us.
Thank you so much in advance.

Cheers!
Indohunter

[braindeadgenius]

BitcoinTalk Username: braindeadgenius
Starting Post Count (including this one): 52
Current Rank: Jr. Member

[Michael CF]

Wao. This is a very interesting contest. I would love to participate in this contest! Now I have the opportunity to participate?

[r1s2g3]

--snip--

I did not understand it, when theymos himself publicly do not want to disclose this information then why  you are so vocal on it.

From below quote, I think Theymos is also in agreement for starting the Merit awarding threads.

I also agree with the idea of (free) "reviewer" topics in general, for finding high-quality posts that went unnoticed.

[BTCforJoe]

As promised, I've sent 2 merits to nullius for this post and I believe that it was their best one, however, this guy is one serious geek we need over this forum.
And, 1 more merit to Blue Tyrant as a consolation prize for this post.

I hope I am doing my job in kinda better way, sorry for being late as I was busy with something.

I would like to contribute more and will be rewarding 2nd place for Round 3 with 3 merits.

Awesome, thank you so much! I will make sure to update the prizes and top post.

i like the challenge and hope it will help to raise the quality bar and help with merit generation, that is so critical for most of the users now. it would be impossible to completely eliminate the chance of challenge abuse, but it might help a lot of users as well (i hope ))
https://live.blockcypher.com/btc/tx/839f421fb2dbc33348c27446253b706c4b23bef0ff85578d05c6cdc02030796b/

Great, thank you so much for your donation! I'm very excited to see that others are stepping forward to see an initiative like this succeed. Kudos!

Is there still have a chance for me to join or could you take me to your list for next round?

Wao. This is a very interesting contest. I would love to participate in this contest! Now I have the opportunity to participate?

As indicated in the original post, you can participate and apply at any time. Upon sending your applications, you will be placed in Round 4, unless it is sent after 9PM on Monday, March 26. Then you will be placed in Round 5. Bring it on, and good luck!

[BTCforJoe]

Just about a day remains for the round, and I must say that this week is going to be the hardest week for me to grade, by far. We have some real quality content that has been produced thus far, and I can’t wait to see who wins! Great job, everyone!

I’m adding a form for applications for Round 4, so I’ll post it up when it’s ready.

[BTCforJoe]

To apply for Round 4, please fill out this Google Form and submit your application.

YOU MUST SUBMIT A NEW APPLICATION EVERY WEEK THAT YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE.

Additionally (and I know this is going to be a pain in the ass), if you could go back and delete your old applications, it would help prune this thread. I made the mistake of not making this a self-moderated thread, so I cannot go back and delete the posts for you.

Moving forward, I will create a new form every week for applications. If you feel uncomfortable with using the form, such as for privacy reasons, please send me a message so that I can personally add you to the applicants spreadsheet.

Cheers!

[bill gator]

Your google form looks pretty nice; that's going to make weekly applications into the challenge a lot easier to manage. I also like that you're not making it mandatory and accepting PM applications for those that don't feel they can use a Google Form. Top notch challenge management, Joe! This week is looking to be a big week for the challenge, looking forward to keeping up with the participants.

[shahzadafzal]

To apply for Round 4, please fill out this Google Form and submit your application.

I have submitted how to confirm my entry? Because i can't not find my in Round 4 sheet?

[Sellingaccs]

To apply for Round 4, please fill out this Google Form and submit your application.

YOU MUST SUBMIT A NEW APPLICATION EVERY WEEK THAT YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE.

Additionally (and I know this is going to be a pain in the ass), if you could go back and delete your old applications, it would help prune this thread. I made the mistake of not making this a self-moderated thread, so I cannot go back and delete the posts for you.

Moving forward, I will create a new form every week for applications. If you feel uncomfortable with using the form, such as for privacy reasons, please send me a message so that I can personally add you to the applicants spreadsheet.

Cheers!

I have submitted the application via the new form.
Will you manually approve the applicants, and then add them to sheet?

Also waiting for this week's results

[DREWSKIE]

I have submitted the application via the new form.
Will you manually approve the applicants, and then add them to sheet?

Also waiting for this week's results

Sellingaccs, where can i find my user i.d.?

[babygun]

Sellingaccs, where can i find my user i.d.?

Go to profile and than click on show stats or show posts to discover your user id
example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1080288;sa=statPanel where 1080288 is the user id.

[DREWSKIE]

Sellingaccs, where can i find my user i.d.?

Go to profile and than click on show stats or show posts to discover your user id

Thanks for the help!. The last numbers from the url of my profile window =  user i.d. great!.I've submitted my application.