Erosion of merit. How to prevent it.

[seoincorporation]

I'll probably get into trouble for this, but I've just given you ten merits. That gives you 5 for the Spanish board. I know that as a legendary they won't make much difference to you, but hopefully you can use the five wisely. I'm having trouble dispensing them, and I'm starting to feel guilty about it.

Getting wild again, JC!!  

Don't worry, I will spend them wisely, and yes, probably in my local to spare @paxmao from the responsibility of being the only source in there.
Thanks for your trust in me.

I totally understand how difficult may be to be a source. Sometimes I've even thought about making my merit-source application, but, in a second thought, I always prefer not to. It is already difficult to lead with the frustration when searching some good posts to reward, mostly from newcomers, and it might be too much for me. That's why even when my local needs another source, I prefer to stay away from being one.
So, yes, I feel you. This is becoming difficult.

Ok, let's go to merit some good Spanish ones. Thanks again.

[Jet Cash]

Just don't give any to me, or Jet Cash will become Jet Ash.

[seoincorporation]

Just don't give any to me, or Jet Cash will become Jet Ash.

Jajaja... I don't want to meet Jet Ash, for sure. I've managed to deliver 4 in no time, there were some good ones waiting for merit. I will keep the others just in case I found something truly good, so I can give 3 in a time (I already had some). But you must know, 4 of your merits have been already delivered  

To the OP, apologies for being quite off topic, but, well, 4 merits have been awarded so far thanks to this thread.

[vphasitha01]

I've even thought about making my merit-source application, but, in a second thought, I always prefer not to. It is already difficult to lead with the frustration when searching some good posts to reward, mostly from newcomers, and it might be too much for me. That's why even when my local needs another source, I prefer to stay away from being one.

I still remembered the first Merit that I got. Actually it's from "Jet cash"  for one of my reply. In that reply I mentioned famous quote of Albert Einstein "The world will not be distroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything". So I think it should be changed like " The Bitcointalk forum will not be cloged or spammed by those who do spaming, but by those who watch them(yes we can report, but I think that will not enough) without appreciating the good posters "

"Jet cash" is doing best he can in order to make the forum better place to learning but not shitposting. So now i think it's your turn "seoincorporation" to apply and become a Merit source. I feeled like, you have the sense of finding good posts as other merit sources. Sometimes forum needs to diversify it's merit distribution. So make that happened.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

The sMerit would remain undestroyable, whilst increasing the merit counters at no cost, and it would only stop when it reaches a dormant user who refuses to play ball (I’m exaggerating a bit here for drama purposes).

We would be able to detect new patterns of merit abuse easily, and have fun in the charting process, with cases such as:
-   Fast paced ping-pong match increasing Merit by exchanging sMerit very quickly between two users.
-   Slow paced tennis-match increasing Merit by exchanging sMerit at a slower pace, tending to get into the fifth set.
-   Football match style Merit abuse, with 22 Alts bouncing around the merit with no kinetically energy loss.

Take your pick, detecting merit abuse would be rather wild …we could ever use the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) and check the replays...

[seoincorporation]

"Jet cash" is doing best he can in order to make the forum better place to learning but not shitposting. So now i think it's your turn "seoincorporation" to apply and become a Merit source. I feeled like, you have the sense of finding good posts as other merit sources. Sometimes forum needs to diversify it's merit distribution. So make that happened.

Thanks for your kind words, vpashita, but, to be honest, I'm not interested in becoming a merit source for the moment. I don't know if I will be able to manage the frustration 

The sMerit would remain undestroyable, whilst increasing the merit counters at no cost, and it would only stop when it reaches a dormant user who refuses to play ball (I’m exaggerating a bit here for drama purposed).

We would be able to detect new patterns of merit abuse easily, and have fun in the charting process, with cases such as:
-   Fast paced ping-pong match increasing Merit by exchanging sMerit very quickly between two users.
-   Slow paced tennis-match increasing Merit by exchanging sMerit at a slower pace, tending to get into the fifth set.
-   Football match style Merit abuse, with 22 Alts bouncing around the merit with no kinetically energy loss.

Take your pick, detecting merit abuse would be rather wild …we could ever use the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) and check the replays...

Jjajaaj I do like the idea. To be honest, I truly believe you must apply to be a merit source. I really appreciate how you can manage to always have a polite and a calmed answer, even for merit beggars.
Besides, you will be able of helping Paxmao on the Spanish board.

[simonova]

1 merit = 1 smerit will result  in a situation where spammers will keep moving merits in between alts. The idea of increasing the number of merit sources is much better and may be implemented if the admin feels the need to do so. Even that idea is limited by number of responsible members available to him that are fit for this job.

The admin already did his homework before implementing and did minor adjustments later on as well.

[MainIbem]

The challenges facing the merit system to me are 1. Many members are adamant in releasing merits. Either they don't know how to award merits or cannot evaluate what post is worthy of merit. 2. For those that know how to award merits, they award merits to farms, acquaintances or outright selling. These are the most prevalent reports of abuse. So how do we solve these challenges?
Erosion of merit or retention of merit is meaningful only to those who know it. It is apparent that the majority have not fully understood the working of the merit system.

There was a suggestion for a separate thread to educate members about merits. Can that suggestion be looked into.

[Jet Cash]

You have to step back and consider the operation of the merit system, and its impact on the forum. Most members seem to think of it as an additional ranking tool, but it isn't. Activity is the ranking tool. You join the forum, and you participate in a variety of discussion, and over time you should learn about the operation of the forum, and the variety of communities here. It is assumed that you benefit from this experience, and your rank is increased accordingly. Unfortunately many members are myopic, and don't realise any of the benefits, or they seek to take advantage of the forum for their own financial gain. The merit system was introduced as a barrier to restrict such selfish members to the lower levels, and to allow the community to decide who should be allowed to increase in rank.

Another important function of the merit system is that it gives an insight into the morality of the members. This is especially true now that many excellent analysis tools have been created. These are detecting many abuses such as account farming, the misuse of alt accounts, bounty frauds , and spamming leeches.

I haven't taken much interest in the activities of other merit sources, other than discussing policies with a few of them in my private chat room. From reports that I've read, it seems that Theymos made some pretty good choices in his initial appointments, but that a few of them do not have the time to hunt for meritable posts, and a couple have been abusing the privilege. I think that Theymos has said that he will be reviewing the behaviour of sources, and I'm sure he will resolve those minor problems.

It seems that there is a serious shortage of sMerits available for non-english speaking members, and if we are to combat the creeping evil of globalisation, we need to benefit from the cross-pollenation of ideas from members without the advantage of fluent english. There is no way that I could evalute a Vietnamese post ( for example ), but Vietnmese opinions are important ( as are other countries) when you are considering the preservation of nation states. It would be useful for me if I knew of a trusted member of a local community, and I could provide him with a few sMerits to support his community. There are sufficient observers to ensure that this wasn't abused, especially if all merit transactions were made openly, and were subject to analysis.