Any penalty for selling merit? Still need a statement.

[digaran]

$5 per merit, you should donate $5 per sold merit to the forum. selling merits to garbage posters would cost the forum, you should cover that cost. if you are going to pay, try to buy a copper membership and send $250 to that address if you have sold 50 merits.
This link will take you there. note that forum is not asking you to do this, I am suggesting you to do this and then show your TXID to the person who has left you negative trust. show some remorse. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

[Kim Ji Won]

IMO, selling merit regardless of the posting quality of the user is an unethical behavior and must be punished appropriately. So tagging them or giving neg trust is okay. This wrongdoing creates more chaos in the forum about merits, like for example a certain user is selling merits to another that can be considered to be a shitposter/spammer, the merit awarded will be then questioned by the community as to how that kind of post got merited while their own posts who they thought to be much more deserving got nothing. A long, repetitive and useless discussion about it will eventually occur.

[selezneve]

Members are always going to look for shortcuts and it will be time consuming for senior members to find the abusers. I do not understand that why the admin simple closes new registrations here or makes it paid or so. Members generally interested in discussions will anyway be ready to pay for this privilege. The members who do not want to invest any money for this can read the threads here without registering also. Currently, you are first inviting spammers, let them do spam and then spending time to ban them.

[krishnaverma]

IMO, selling merit regardless of the posting quality of the user is an unethical behavior and must be punished appropriately. So tagging them or giving neg trust is okay. This wrongdoing creates more chaos in the forum about merits, like for example a certain user is selling merits to another that can be considered to be a shitposter/spammer, the merit awarded will be then questioned by the community as to how that kind of post got merited while their own posts who they thought to be much more deserving got nothing. A long, repetitive and useless discussion about it will eventually occur.

Some questions here:

1) Why is it allowed to send up to 50 merits for a single post ? No doubt, such cases are easy to spot and the member will be punished but what about the merit points wasted. Those 50 merit points should have been given to a deserving member.

2) Regarding buying/selling of merit, how are the deals happening outside the forum going to be caught ?

[mdayonliner]

You might want to post a summary of your thread or a link to your thread here if you haven't already done so just to ensure everything is in a centralised list.

I just did as you suggested assuming this will help to be discovered by DT members.

Should I remove the red trust knowing the person sold the merits?

No, you should not.  Not even if they send you a message telling you their kids will starve to death because of your feedback (because that's a lie, as is any idiotic plea like that).

I had bring a second thought in it eventually. With some terms and conditions am removing the red trust. Motive is to keep a proof that they admit their misuse. I wish I was a DT member or a high ranked member to save my ass.
mdayonliner's Red Trust removal T&C

Some questions here:

1) Why is it allowed to send up to 50 merits for a single post ? No doubt, such cases are easy to spot and the member will be punished but what about the merit points wasted. Those 50 merit points should have been given to a deserving member.

2) Regarding buying/selling of merit, how are the deals happening outside the forum going to be caught ?

If we take responsibilities (if possible) in our hand trying to find these abusers and find a way to warn them with proofs (i.e: my removal t&c) then give them a second chance. After that if they do the same mistake/abuse then staff or moderators should ban them, no mercy (my opinion). May be we will see it will start to reduce dramatically.

[jackg]

You might want to post a summary of your thread or a link to your thread here if you haven't already done so just to ensure everything is in a centralised list.

I just did as you suggested assuming this will help to be discovered by DT members.

Should I remove the red trust knowing the person sold the merits?

No, you should not.  Not even if they send you a message telling you their kids will starve to death because of your feedback (because that's a lie, as is any idiotic plea like that).

I had bring a second thought in it eventually. With some terms and conditions am removing the red trust. Motive is to keep a proof that they admit their misuse. I wish I was a DT member or a high ranked member to save my ass.
mdayonliner's Red Trust removal T&C

The abuse worsens when you're on DT or a higher ranked member who actively searches for scams across the forum.
Aha yes, that's a good list of the so-far stuff.

$5 per merit, you should donate $5 per sold merit to the forum. selling merits to garbage posters would cost the forum, you should cover that cost. if you are going to pay, try to buy a copper membership and send $250 to that address if you have sold 50 merits.
This link will take you there. note that forum is not asking you to do this, I am suggesting you to do this and then show your TXID to the person who has left you negative trust. show some remorse. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

That's not actually a bad idea in order to act as an incentive to stop users from trying to sell/buy merit. Get both members to do it, not just the seller.

[mdayonliner]

The abuse worsens when you're on DT or a higher ranked member who actively searches for scams across the forum. 

If they have bad intention and try to take advantages then yes it's worse but someday they will get caught for sure.
In my opinion earning a high rank or getting a DT needs a lot of hard work. Someone with those ranks will not try to abuse anything by risking their hard earned reputation. Again yes people change.

$5 per merit, you should donate $5 per sold merit to the forum. selling merits to garbage posters would cost the forum, you should cover that cost. if you are going to pay, try to buy a copper membership and send $250 to that address if you have sold 50 merits.
This link will take you there. note that forum is not asking you to do this, I am suggesting you to do this and then show your TXID to the person who has left you negative trust. show some remorse. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

That's not actually a bad idea in order to act as an incentive to stop users from trying to sell/buy merit. Get both members to do it, not just the seller.

- You do realise this will create more mess? Someone with money can be ranked easily.
 i.e:
1. You can be a Hero member if you are willing to spend $2500 to the seller plus $2500 to the forum. So it will cost only $5000 to have 500 merits to become a hero member. And someone who will spend $5000 to become a hero member will defiantly do everything to get return of his investment = scamming with may be ICO project?   
2. Same way to become a Legendary member you are going to spend only $10,000. If you have solid plan to scam people then spending these $10,000 can return you million.

-Now come to anther point. How would you think you will be able to identify all these merit seller/buyers? The forum will be a kios.
Bad idea, sorry.

[jackg]

$5 per merit, you should donate $5 per sold merit to the forum. selling merits to garbage posters would cost the forum, you should cover that cost. if you are going to pay, try to buy a copper membership and send $250 to that address if you have sold 50 merits.
This link will take you there. note that forum is not asking you to do this, I am suggesting you to do this and then show your TXID to the person who has left you negative trust. show some remorse. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

That's not actually a bad idea in order to act as an incentive to stop users from trying to sell/buy merit. Get both members to do it, not just the seller.

- You do realise this will create more mess? Someone with money can be ranked easily.
 i.e:
1. You can be a Hero member if you are willing to spend $2500 to the seller plus $2500 to the forum. So it will cost only $5000 to have 500 merits to become a hero member. And someone who will spend $5000 to become a hero member will defiantly do everything to get return of his investment = scamming with may be ICO project?   
2. Same way to become a Legendary member you are going to spend only $10,000. If you have solid plan to scam people then spending these $10,000 can return you million.

-Now come to anther point. How would you think you will be able to identify all these merit seller/buyers? The forum will be a kios.
Bad idea, sorry.

Not finding all, just the ones you can find.
You forget it's not against forum rules to farm/sell accounts or to have alts here. Charging $10000 or ~1BTC is more expensive than buying a legendary account outright (depending on account quality).

You don't need to find all to convince people to not do something, you just need to find "most" to show you're making some sort of impact to those who participate in this sort of thing.

[coolcoinz]

Members are always going to look for shortcuts and it will be time consuming for senior members to find the abusers. I do not understand that why the admin simple closes new registrations here or makes it paid or so. Members generally interested in discussions will anyway be ready to pay for this privilege. The members who do not want to invest any money for this can read the threads here without registering also. Currently, you are first inviting spammers, let them do spam and then spending time to ban them.

That would be seen as a greedy move. This forum was made to be a place for free discussion and for people to learn about cryptocurrencies. If people started seeing that they have to pay to be able to ask a question on a forum they would get discouraged. I guess i'm not ready for discussion because I wouldn't pay for registration. I'd move to free forums like reddit. Nobody is inviting spammers here. They are coming of their own will!

[Maldini07]

Selling or buying merit is not good for forum, thats is unfair for newbie or jr.
Stop to try sell/buy merits and i hope mods will be ban or delete account if they suspected farming merit abuse

[ilcapitano]

It doesn't make sense because anyone in the forum can buy/sell sMerits (more exactly to called them sMerits buying/selling, not Merits) if they want, regardless of their ranks.
Additionally, your words make me feell like you are not able to buy sMerits (maybe lack of money, lol).
Honestly, I strongly think that those users who try to exchange sMerits have chosen the wrong way. It is side-effects of merit system, but only a small group of users doing this. Mostly come from spammers and account farmers.

Selling or buying merit is not good for forum, thats is unfair for newbie or jr.

Don't worry! Moderators will ban all of them when evidence shows up

Stop to try sell/buy merits and i hope mods will be ban or delete account if they suspected farming merit abuse

[mdayonliner]

That would be seen as a greedy move. This forum was made to be a place for free discussion and for people to learn about cryptocurrencies. If people started seeing that they have to pay to be able to ask a question on a forum they would get discouraged. I guess i'm not ready for discussion because I wouldn't pay for registration. I'd move to free forums like reddit. Nobody is inviting spammers here. They are coming of their own will!

This will ruin the idea of a forum so to speak.

Not finding all, just the ones you can find.
You forget it's not against forum rules to farm/sell accounts or to have alts here. Charging $10000 or ~1BTC is more expensive than buying a legendary account outright (depending on account quality).

You don't need to find all to convince people to not do something, you just need to find "most" to show you're making some sort of impact to those who participate in this sort of thing.

-I was only using an example to explain my point.
Again this is why I think it's a bad one... that idea will bring more workload because these people will never come forward by their own to pay the forum.

[Ginzink]

$5 per merit, you should donate $5 per sold merit to the forum. selling merits to garbage posters would cost the forum, you should cover that cost. if you are going to pay, try to buy a copper membership and send $250 to that address if you have sold 50 merits.
This link will take you there. note that forum is not asking you to do this, I am suggesting you to do this and then show your TXID to the person who has left you negative trust. show some remorse. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

I just realized i would probably have actualy paid for a copper membership if that gave me the merit to rank up.
That was a suprise, i really do not like that people are buying selling merit. Double standards from me then.. Or just a weak moment
Thankfully it is not an option 

[mdayonliner]

There isn't really any rule against it per se and it's not really enforced at an admin or staff level, so it's more of a community issue right now much like scams and other such shady behaviour. As far as I'm aware the only thing that is currently prohibited is merit sources selling their merit though I'm not sure what the punishment for that would be other than them being removed as merit source.

What about on selling merits? It only says: disallowed but no clue about the penalty.

Can we expect any update on this statement about selling merits by regular members like us who are not merit source.

What action will be taken if a regular member sells (to anyone) or exchange merits (with their friends).

I am seeking your attention (@hilariousetc) since FAQ: Everything you need to know about forum 'activity, account ranks and merit is your(Alt) post.

Thanks

PS: I just changed the title of the topic just to get your (@hilariousetc) attention.

Apology to everyone else especially jackg, jerry29@., greeklogos, MainIbem, The Pharmacist, sitnikov, audaciousbeing, Lehbane, tranthidung, digaran, Kim Ji Won, selezneve, krishnaverma, coolcoinz, Maldini07, ilcapitano, Ginzink. I appreciate the feedback you guys made. It means a lot to me however I really need a clear statement for reference. And IMO hilariousetc is the best one. Hope you guys understand it.