Theymos, why are you hoarding your sMerit?

[LFC_Bitcoin]

This is not a problem with the merit system, this is a problem with the quality of the content and the sockpuppets. For reference: I have around 300 sMerit right now and nobody to give them to, nor do I plan to look through garbage to find someone. I'm still waiting for a destroy merit option.

Sitting on 99 sMerit, who wants to impress me

[1714184399]

1714184399

[aurorabitcoin.96]

This is not a problem with the merit system, this is a problem with the quality of the content and the sockpuppets. For reference: I have around 300 sMerit right now and nobody to give them to, nor do I plan to look through garbage to find someone. I'm still waiting for a destroy merit option.

And you are right, maybe you can save those sMerit too.  
Because poor-quality content will increase and sMerit still save. But, it depends the people want to give it or not.
And, may i know what do you mean destroy merit option?

[sncc]

While 777 sMerits (btw lucky number!) must be the largest number, it seems many people including me are hoarding sMerits more or less and cannot find appropriate good quality posts, so theymos may be going to introduce the system for decaying sMerits and then magnifying past Merits mentioned in the quote below.  The strategy is similar to magnify the amount of sMerits for each submission in the future suggested by Vod above, but in this way theymos was planning to magnify the Merits already sent in the past as well.  It seems this could be a resolution for the current situation.

[snip]
In addition to continuously adding more sources, if things could still use improvement in this regard in a couple of months, I may do something like decay old sMerit and unused source merit and randomly redistribute the decayed merit. How the random distribution would work would magnify past merit -- so perhaps you would get an increased chance of winning extra merit for every post you've made which has at least 1 merit, but certainly you would not get any extra merit if none of your posts was ever merited.
[snip]

Hmm, I tested my account but the calculations are not correct,
http://dev.martinlawrence.ca/bpip/profile.aspx?p=iasenko

It says that I have at least 36 smerit but I actually have only 21.
[snip]

It looks like your numbers might be a bit out of date.
[snip]

There is a link for "Update this profile now" at the left top, but after update it still says "Has at least 36 sMerit available".  It seems that "Has received 175 merit" is wrong for some reason as your Merit score is actually 152.

[Vod]

Hmm, I tested my account but the calculations are not correct,
http://dev.martinlawrence.ca/bpip/profile.aspx?p=iasenko

It says that I have at least 36 smerit but I actually have only 21.

I'll upload a screenshot for proof when I get to my PC

How can that be?

You have received 175 merit means you have 87 sMerit, of which you have spent 51.

I parse the new merits from here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=recent

It doesn't show WHO the merit is sent to, so I have to calculate that.  I hope there isn't a bug.  :/

I'll make a link to show each individual merit rating.

[sncc]

Hmm, I tested my account but the calculations are not correct,
http://dev.martinlawrence.ca/bpip/profile.aspx?p=iasenko

It says that I have at least 36 smerit but I actually have only 21.

I'll upload a screenshot for proof when I get to my PC

How can that be?

You have received 175 merit means you have 87 sMerit, of which you have spent 51.
[snip]

iasenko's merit score was actually 152 (now 154 after your 2 merits), not 175, so something is wrong for the counting of received merits.  What I do not understand is that I think iasenko's sMerit balance was 152 / 2 - 51 = 25, but he wrote he had 21.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Hmm, I tested my account but the calculations are not correct,
http://dev.martinlawrence.ca/bpip/profile.aspx?p=iasenko

It says that I have at least 36 smerit but I actually have only 21.

I'll upload a screenshot for proof when I get to my PC

How can that be?

You have received 175 merit means you have 87 sMerit, of which you have spent 51.

I parse the new merits from here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=recent

It doesn't show WHO the merit is sent to, so I have to calculate that.  I hope there isn't a bug.  :/

I'll make a link to show each individual merit rating.

Well I do have only 154 merit check my profile, received 144 and 10 initial (I was member when merit came )

So I guess there is something wrong with the calculations.
When I get back to my PC I'll investigate it.

You have received a total of 154 merit. This is what determines your forum rank. You typically cannot lose this merit. You have 22 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

Edit: updated the two new merit.

[Vod]

When I get back to my PC I'll investigate it.

Ok, I don't want to turn META into a troubleshooting board for my app  so I'll just post this last thing.

I recently refreshed my merit database with the database dump from Thursday night.
https://bitcointalk.org/merit.txt.xz 

The probability is 57820/58119 (99.5%) that your problem lies in those records.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Even Theymos realizes how bad the quality of posting is here--that's why he implemented the merit system in the first place.  It's a bit ironic that he's being stingy with his sMerits, but not surprising.  He probably sees the need to merit people who have some ranking up to do, as opposed to Legendaries, but is having some trouble actually finding posts worth meriting.  

It's a maddening problem, even for him.  It's not that he's hoarding sMerits--he's just giving them out slowly, very deliberately, to members who deserve them.  That takes time, and it doesn't help that people keep meriting Theymos and thus giving him more sMerits to "hoard".

IMO the administrator of this board should be stingy.  He should be impressed only by the significant comments, and spend his energy on Administration. 

Ironic but not baffling by any means.  I really think people should stop sending merits to Theymos and start giving them to people who need to rank up AND who write well.  That's not easy, but giving merits to Theymos is kind of a waste, even if you appreciate what he writes.  He's got so many sMerits at this point that they're just going to sit in his account.  It'd be much better if all of those users who give them to him would find people in need and who deserve them.

[Vod]

I'm still waiting for a destroy merit option.

Ouch.  I'm not that far into despair yet lol.  

This forum could very well be my purpose in life, so I am attempting to use all my sMerit in a responsible way.  It's just taking a lot of time I don't have at the moment.

[Vod]

It's a bit ironic that he's being stingy with his sMerits, but not surprising.

IMO the administrator of this board should be stingy.  He should be impressed only by the significant comments, and spend his energy on Administration. 

[unabomber]

How does your website calculate the trust score? I couldn't help but notice that according to your website, Quickseller is the most trusted user on Bitcointalk:

https://i.imgur.com/DNM3ub7.png

[aervin11]

Theymos isn't the only one guilty of this.

The truth is that the sMerit rain has ceased. The initial excitement around it has died down. Now, most forum memebers don't remember it even exists or to give it any more.

I agree with this. I think it was an extra job for them to read all the posts/replies then analyze if it was recommended for merit. Be like " What would I get if I send him merits? He'll rank up and ruin the forum"

[Quickseller]

I couldn't help but notice that according to your website, Quickseller is the most trusted user on Bitcointalk:

https://i.imgur.com/DNM3ub7.png

Lol, that is really there.

For the record, I had nothing to do with that. But it looks like someone might have hacked Vod's website

[TryNinja]

I just updated @Quickseller's profile and the 'el1t3 h4x0r' rank it's not there anymore.

Also back to the old -113 trust.

[friends1980]

This is not a problem with the merit system, this is a problem with the quality of the content and the sockpuppets. For reference: I have around 300 sMerit right now and nobody to give them to, nor do I plan to look through garbage to find someone. I'm still waiting for a destroy merit option.

The pleasure that is brought to me on a daily basis, by seeing the frustration all those spammers and BS posters are experiencing right now, exponentially ranks out my own frustration for remaning at my current level.

That - an sich - is a perfect reason to give the creator of the Merit system a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

[hoanghai101296]

Not the fault of anyone
Many people keep a lot of sMerit, but they have very little time to put it into quality articles, every day there are many posts posted on the forum.

[Vod]

I couldn't help but notice that according to your website, Quickseller is the most trusted user on Bitcointalk:

https://i.imgur.com/DNM3ub7.png

Lol, that is really there.

For the record, I had nothing to do with that. But it looks like someone might have hacked Vod's website

Yep.  Got into my database and deleted my primary table.

I have to figure out how they did it.  

It may have been QS or it may have been Theymos as a revenge for this thread.   

Thread locked.  Please see
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3321563.0

[Vod]

UPDATE:

https://bpip.org/profile.aspx?p=theymos

Has at least 858 sMerit available

This time, I believe my numbers are correct... 

[Jet Cash]

I checked my listing, and I've got a couple of questions.

It doesn't show my sMerit total - is this because I'm a source, and Theymos isn't?

I've got a worst trust rating of 2 - is that positive or negative? I've got a comment about my admission that Talk Merit is an alt of mine in there. I'm not sure why that needed to be posted, as the association is posted allover the forum. I think it's even in my profile.

[Vod]

It doesn't show my sMerit total - is this because I'm a source, and Theymos isn't?

No.  It takes the total amount you have received, divides it by two, and subtracts what you have sent.  If the number is positive, it lists it.  Simple as that.  Once Theymos posts inital merit, obviously I'll be able to calculate better.

I've got a worst trust rating of 2 - is that positive or negative?

2 is positive.  -2 would be negative.  Maybe I'll add color into those numbers to help.

I've got a comment about my admission that Talk Merit is an alt of mine in there. I'm not sure why that needed to be posted, as the association is posted allover the forum. I think it's even in my profile.

Not sure what you mean... BPIP is not tracking forum comments yet...  ?