Received Merit - Top Streaks (merited days in a row) - Updated

[DdmrDdmr]

Edit: Data updated as of 26/04/2019.

I was asked recently if I had any update on the merit streaks, and the truth is I had not taken a look into it since I created the OP back in August 2018. I’ve now updated the OP in this thread with the current awarded merit streaks, and while being at it, added it to the Merit Dashboard (last tab called "Received Merit Streaks"). On the Merit Dashboard you can easily filter by user or section/subsection to see all the received merit streaks.

The previous version of the OP can be seen here: https://web.archive.org/web/20190430091758/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4981102.0

Difficult at it seemed at the time, @nullius’s 31 day merit streak (merited days in a row) has been surpassed by 5 new additional streaks, setting the current record at 90 days! (see below).

Note: Days are calculated as they are in the Merit.txt file (UTC).

1.   Introduction

What I have done on this occasion is determine the merit streaks associated to different users. a Merit streak is a number of consecutive days (with no gaps in between) on which the user is awarded with merit. I've had this in mind for some time, but hadn’t gone forth with the idea since calculating the streaks was not as simple as I thought initially.

The best streaks are often dated back in the earlier days of the Merit System. When a forum member (or a subsection) has more than one streak with the same number of days, the most recent once is inventoried on the lists shown below.

Common column shown are as follows:
   Rank: Current user rank.
   Name: Username.
   UserId: Bitcointalk UserId.
   From: Initial streak date.
   Until: Ending streak date.
   nMerit: Merit involved in the listed streak for the given user.
   nDays: Duration of the streak in days.
   nMsg: Number of distinct posts merited in the streak.
   URL: User URL

Note: I also calculated the merit streaks from the senders point of view, but adding them here just made the post too long and I think the receiver streaks are more interesting really.

2.   Top 50 Receiver Streaks

The following is a list of the top 50 streaks during which forum members have received sMerit (may require horizontal and vertical scroll on some screens):

Code:

rank                Name                UserId    from           until          nMerit    nDays     nMsg      URL
Hero Member         micgoossens         1067333   2018-10-31     2019-01-28     604       90        253       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1067333
Legendary           Last of the V8s     479624    2019-01-06     2019-03-07     232       61        147       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
Legendary           suchmoon            234771    2019-01-02     2019-02-07     399       37        153       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=234771
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2019-03-22     2019-04-25     346       35        79        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2019-02-17     2019-03-20     309       32        83        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Full Member         nullius             976210    2018-01-30     2018-03-01     518       31        108       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=976210
Hero Member         o_e_l_e_o           1188543   2019-01-02     2019-01-30     215       29        76        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1188543
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2019-01-01     2019-01-29     360       29        80        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2018-01-25     2018-02-20     225       27        65        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Sr. Member          DdmrDdmr            1582324   2019-02-24     2019-03-22     173       27        46        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1582324
Hero Member         o_e_l_e_o           1188543   2018-09-04     2018-09-30     175       27        58        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1188543
Hero Member         o_e_l_e_o           1188543   2019-02-21     2019-03-18     218       26        61        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1188543
Hero Member         micgoossens         1067333   2019-03-12     2019-04-06     175       26        84        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1067333
Legendary           suchmoon            234771    2019-04-01     2019-04-26     157       26        59        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=234771
Legendary           JayJuanGee          252510    2018-01-25     2018-02-19     123       26        73        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=252510
Sr. Member          ICOEthics           2204241   2019-02-05     2019-03-01     112       25        36        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2204241
Legendary           hilariousetc        397737    2018-09-03     2018-09-26     171       24        43        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=397737
Hero Member         micgoossens         1067333   2019-01-30     2019-02-21     134       23        66        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1067333
Hero Member         BTCforJoe           557989    2018-03-22     2018-04-13     133       23        27        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=557989
Legendary           Last of the V8s     479624    2018-03-05     2018-03-26     116       22        48        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
Sr. Member          1miau               2143453   2019-03-02     2019-03-22     175       21        29        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2143453
Sr. Member          abhiseshakana       1878246   2019-04-05     2019-04-25     173       21        50        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1878246
Legendary           Jet Cash            698159    2018-06-26     2018-07-15     95        20        37        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=698159
Administrator       theymos             35        2018-01-24     2018-02-12     1485      20        32        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=35
Hero Member         xtraelv             897509    2019-01-18     2019-02-06     74        20        25        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=897509
Administrator       theymos             35        2019-01-01     2019-01-19     471       19        39        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=35
Hero Member         HairyMaclairy       181806    2018-10-12     2018-10-30     57        19        31        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=181806
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2018-10-14     2018-11-01     96        19        34        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Legendary           Pamoldar            662330    2019-01-28     2019-02-15     91        19        36        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=662330
Legendary           hilariousetc        397737    2018-08-08     2018-08-25     177       18        25        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=397737
Sr. Member          DdmrDdmr            1582324   2018-09-11     2018-09-28     206       18        35        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1582324
Full Member         VB1001              1138727   2018-12-16     2019-01-02     61        18        28        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1138727
Sr. Member          mikeywith           2033515   2018-12-14     2018-12-31     131       18        29        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2033515
Staff               achow101            290195    2018-01-25     2018-02-11     121       18        45        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=290195
Sr. Member          tvplus006           1311641   2018-04-23     2018-05-09     53        17        7         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1311641
Sr. Member          mikeywith           2033515   2019-01-02     2019-01-18     136       17        43        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2033515
Sr. Member          khaled0111          1012655   2018-12-31     2019-01-16     93        17        19        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1012655
Sr. Member          theyoungmillionaire 1180530   2018-04-25     2018-05-11     68        17        22        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1180530
Hero Member         TheQuin             143168    2018-02-19     2018-03-07     44        17        22        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=143168
Legendary           JayJuanGee          252510    2019-03-02     2019-03-18     46        17        39        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=252510
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2018-11-06     2018-11-22     87        17        31        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Legendary           The Pharmacist      487418    2019-03-05     2019-03-21     116       17        43        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=487418
Legendary           Vod                 30747     2018-10-30     2018-11-15     64        17        31        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=30747
Legendary           TMAN                98986     2018-04-19     2018-05-04     127       16        24        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=98986
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2019-01-31     2019-02-15     127       16        49        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Legendary           LoyceV              459836    2018-09-14     2018-09-29     143       16        34        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
Legendary           LFC_Bitcoin         379487    2019-02-22     2019-03-09     61        16        35        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=379487
Legendary           Last of the V8s     479624    2018-04-14     2018-04-29     65        16        36        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
Legendary           Last of the V8s     479624    2019-03-19     2019-04-03     68        16        45        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
Legendary           suchmoon            234771    2018-09-13     2018-09-28     101       16        44        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=234771

micgoossens has the longest streak to date, having received sMerit for 90 days in a row, totalling 604 sMerits during that streak. Last of the V8s comes second with a streak of 61 days, followed by suchmoon with 37 days. All these three top streaks are rather recent, and surpass those established in the early days of the Merit System.

Some forum members appear various times on the list with multiple streaks amongst the top 50. LoyceV for example holds 8 entries in the top 50 merit streaks.

Full list of max. streak per user can be seen here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CSonntpRICTBYkLT_8ycIwYCxtKCxbXwBoD8KDkuHPw/edit?usp=sharing


3.   Top Receiver Streak per subsection

The focus this time is on the larges streak by Subsection (41 subsections, +1 deleted virtual subsection)(may require horizontal and vertical scroll on some screens).

Code:

section                       subsection                         rank           Name                  UserId       from           until          nMerit    nDays     URL
Alternate cryptocurrencies    Altcoin Discussion                 Sr. Member     Ranyar                1023316      2018-02-12     2018-02-18     55        7         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1023316
Alternate cryptocurrencies    Announcements (Altcoins)           Sr. Member     deeperx               1038794      2018-01-30     2018-02-07     125       9         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1038794
Alternate cryptocurrencies    Marketplace (Altcoins)             Legendary      Sylon                 112240       2018-01-25     2018-02-03     91        10        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=112240
Alternate cryptocurrencies    Mining (Altcoins)                  Donator        Claymore              306958       2018-02-24     2018-02-28     13        5         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=306958
Alternate cryptocurrencies    Speculation (Altcoins)             Hero Member    HairyMaclairy         181806       2019-01-26     2019-01-28     17        3         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=181806
Bitcoin                       Bitcoin Discussion                 Administrator  theymos               35           2019-01-02     2019-01-07     104       6         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=35
Bitcoin                       Bitcoin Technical Support          Staff          achow101              290195       2018-01-28     2018-02-05     30        9         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=290195
Bitcoin                       Development & Technical Discussion Full Member    nullius               976210       2018-01-30     2018-02-10     122       12        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=976210
Bitcoin                       Mining                             Legendary      philipma1957          64507        2019-02-05     2019-02-13     24        9         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=64507
Bitcoin                       Project Development                Full Member    CryptyMike            419071       2018-06-14     2018-06-17     16        4         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=419071
Deleted                       Deleted                            Sr. Member     Alex_Sr               1762404      2018-03-14     2018-03-21     21        8         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1762404
Economy                       Economics                          Legendary      Last of the V8s       479624       2019-01-06     2019-03-07     216       61        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
Economy                       Marketplace                        Legendary      Hhampuz               881377       2019-01-26     2019-02-06     65        12        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=881377
Economy                       Trading Discussion                 Sr. Member     ICOEthics             2204241      2019-02-05     2019-03-01     111       25        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2204241
Local                         Arabic                             Sr. Member     mikeywith             2033515      2019-04-15     2019-04-23     20        9         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2033515
Local                         Chinese                            Member         coin8coin8            1954639      2018-09-17     2018-09-22     10        6         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1954639
Local                         Croatian                           Sr. Member     Trofo                 1099980      2018-02-03     2018-02-08     18        6         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1099980
Local                         Dutch                              Member         Sexy_Sees             1338805      2018-02-12     2018-02-15     6         4         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1338805
Local                         French                             Hero Member    asche                 1580039      2019-01-10     2019-01-18     29        9         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1580039
Local                         German                             Donator        qwk                   24140        2019-03-27     2019-04-04     31        9         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24140
Local                         Greek                              Full Member    vascrs11              1072972      2018-01-25     2018-01-26     2         2         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1072972
Local                         Hebrew                             Newbie         EndryoBit             2498809      2018-12-17     2018-12-17     1         1         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2498809
Local                         Indian                             Sr. Member     Guvn0r                860161       2019-04-17     2019-04-18     2         2         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=860161
Local                         Indonesian                         Sr. Member     abhiseshakana         1878246      2019-04-05     2019-04-25     173       21        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1878246
Local                         Italian                            Sr. Member     duesoldi              937020       2018-01-26     2018-02-05     30        11        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=937020
Local                         Japanese                           Full Member    hakka                 1649515      2018-05-18     2018-05-22     9         5         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1649515
Local                         Korean                             Full Member    SolidLiquid           1025214      2018-05-19     2018-05-19     1         1         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1025214
Local                         Other Languages                    Sr. Member     flekkelek             924671       2018-01-27     2018-01-29     10        3         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=924671
Local                         Pilipinas                          Sr. Member     theyoungmillionaire   1180530      2018-06-24     2018-07-04     43        11        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1180530
Local                         Polish                             Sr. Member     Tytanowy Janusz       1925869      2019-04-08     2019-04-14     23        7         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1925869
Local                         Portuguese                         Sr. Member     bitmover              1554927      2018-03-22     2018-03-29     13        8         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1554927
Local                         Romanian                           Member         HBKMusiK              1246426      2018-02-27     2018-03-01     6         3         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1246426
Local                         Russian                            Sr. Member     Co1n                  95019        2018-01-29     2018-02-10     87        13        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=95019
Local                         Skandinavisk                       Member         EddieFx               2368538      2018-12-23     2018-12-23     10        1         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2368538
Local                         Spanish                            Legendary      seoincorporation      334783       2019-03-29     2019-04-02     7         5         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=334783
Local                         Turkish                            Sr. Member     AlyattesLydia         1046135      2018-01-25     2018-02-07     74        14        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1046135
Other                         Archival                           Legendary      Hhampuz               881377       2018-08-11     2018-08-14     26        4         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=881377
Other                         Beginners & Help                   Legendary      shorena               181801       2018-01-24     2018-01-31     121       8         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=181801
Other                         Meta                               Legendary      suchmoon              234771       2019-01-07     2019-02-05     247       30        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=234771
Other                         Off-topic                          Hero Member    bill gator            370611       2018-01-25     2018-02-04     55        11        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=370611
Other                         Politics & Society                 Staff          Flying Hellfish       79608        2018-11-26     2018-12-01     42        6         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=79608
Other                         Serious discussion                 Hero Member    o_e_l_e_o             1188543      2018-11-25     2018-11-29     24        5         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1188543

Long streaks per section/subsection are more difficult to obtain. Last of the V8s holds the record here in the Economics subsection (Wall Observer thread essentially), with a 61 day streak. suchmoon holds the second longest streak, being merited for 30 days in a row on Meta, whilst ICOEthics was awarded merit for 25 days in a row on the Trading Discussion board. There are quite a few streaks of just a few days, nearly all on the Local boards, which goes to show that even the most merited there have difficulties.


4.   Merit Dashboard screen

The implemented Merit Dashboard screen look like this:



The above shows all my received sMerit streaks:

-   Top left shows all my global streaks, ordered by the number of days implied. In my case, my to streak is of 27 consecutive days receiving sMerit in a row, between the 24/02/2019 and the 23/03/2019. I obtained 173 merits during that streak.

-   Top right summarizes the number of occurrences of each merit streak. In my particular case, I have 1 27 day streak, 1 18 day streak, 1 16 day streak, 2 15 day streaks, and so on.

-   Bottom left shows my streaks by forum section/subsection. The image shows that I've been merited 16 days in a row on Meta between the 12/09/2018 and the 27/07/2018. If I were to scroll down further (or apply section/subsection filters), I would be able to see that my max streak is of 4 days in a row on my Spanish local board (the record goes to @Seoincorporation with 5 there), being also 4 days in a row in Beginners and Help.

-   The botton right summarizes the number of occurrences of each merit streak of mine (since I’ve filter by my profile) by section/subsection. In Beginners & Help for example, my personal record streak is of 4 days in a row (once), having made 3 days in a row eight times, 2 days in a row on 6 occasions, and single days 26 times.

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[cabalism13]

Well, nullius has done it already and I think no one will ever break that record unless theymos becomes active on posting relevant threads  

Even though nullius is already gone for a long period he will stay at the ranks and logs of Merit Analysis.

Majority of accounts on these list are known people from Bitcointalk. I wonder when will someone shows and stood up against those

[Harlot]

Well, nullius has done it already and I think no one will ever break that record unless theymos becomes active on posting relevant threads  

I don't think that his record is unbreakable, remember LoyceV on fell short of only 4 days which is really near and LoyceV is also very active in the forum currently and to top it off he is also a merit source which means that there is a high chance that the one he has sent the merits to has a certain influence on returning back the favor. I don't know when but I am sure that nullius' record is nowhere untouchable and someone will break it someday.

[funsponge]

Would be interesting to combine this data with data from their most merited replies/topics. COuld bring in some insight on why they received so much in a small amount of time. I think a few of these users probably posted a guide of some sort which resulted in them having a lot more merit in quick succession than normal.

[Welsh]

I don't think that his record is unbreakable, remember LoyceV on fell short of only 4 days which is really near and LoyceV is also very active in the forum currently and to top it off he is also a merit source which means that there is a high chance that the one he has sent the merits to has a certain influence on returning back the favor. I don't know when but I am sure that nullius' record is nowhere untouchable and someone will break it someday.

Generally, requires a very high quality member for that to happen though, and there aren't too many that are near that standard. Plus, it also depends on how much sMerit users have to distribute at the time. You could get lucky, and a lot of merit sources recently got their sMerit back or you could be completely unlucky, and they have already ran out. There's a little bit of luck required too.

[hilariousetc]

Interesting info. Thanks for compiling it.

Some forum members appear various times on the list with multiple streaks amongst the top 50. Hilariousetc and xtraelv were on an on-going streak at the time of data extraction, and really have a +2 days and +1 additional streak length looking over their merit this week.

And I've yet to receive a single merit today despite making some quality shit. C'mon, fuckers. Don't make me merit myself from my main account and get negbombed  .

Seriously though, I think the amount of merit sources or people actually giving merit is actually an issue right now. I don't really care that much about receiving merit personally because it's useless for me as Legendary now (unless additional ranks or badges are awarded for high merited users), though it is nice to know people have read and appreciated your posts, but there's a lot of quality posts I see that just don't get merited at all. I think even decent/great posters will struggle to rank up to levels of Hero and Legendary if this doesn't change, especially those users just signing up. Hopefully theymos will add users more frequently but this is one more issue that will likely be put on the backburner of things to do but never get done.

[Welsh]

Seriously though, I think the amount of merit sources or people actually giving merit is actually an issue right now. I don't really care that much about receiving merit personally because it's useless for me as Legendary now (unless additional ranks or badges are awarded for high merited users), though it is nice to know people have read and appreciated your posts, but there's a lot of quality posts I see that just don't get merited at all. I think even decent/great posters will struggle to rank up to levels of Hero and Legendary if this doesn't change, especially those users just signing up. Hopefully theymos will add users more frequently but this is one more issue that will likely be put on the backburner of things to do but never get done.

Yeah, I've noticed some very good quality posts never receive any merit whatsoever. Its not like they aren't being seen either. There's a few posts in the serious discussion section which I think deserve a few merit. The recent discussion on the tax debate has some interesting replies.

Probably a bad example because they have received quite a bit of merit since I last checked, but there's a few other topics, and replies in that section which seem to just be glanced over.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>
Even though nullius is already gone for a long period he will stay at the ranks and logs of Merit Analysis.
Majority of accounts on these list are known people from Bitcointalk. I wonder when will someone shows and stood up against those

Yes, @nullius will maintain records for quite a while, bearing in mind both the quality of the posts and that there was a merrier merit awarding possibility closer to the beginning of the Merit System kick-off than now. Only recently have a few users surpassed him on total aggregate received sMerits, and months have gone by since he was last active.
I don’t get your second comment…

<…>
 

In my mind, there are three of four current candidates that are persistent and merited enough to currently challenge the record. Not easy at all though.

Would be interesting to combine this data with data from their most merited replies/topics. COuld bring in some insight on why they received so much in a small amount of time. I think a few of these users probably posted a guide of some sort which resulted in them having a lot more merit in quick succession than normal.

I’ve added a column to the first data table with the number of distinct post made by the forum member during the streak period of time. Most of them involve a large amount of posts (even if they may or may not be on the same thread).

<…>
Seriously though, I think the amount of merit sources or people actually giving merit is actually an issue right now. I don't really care that much about receiving merit personally because it's useless for me as Legendary now (unless additional ranks or badges are awarded for high merited users), though it is nice to know people have read and appreciated your posts, but there's a lot of quality posts I see that just don't get merited at all. I think even decent/great posters will struggle to rank up to levels of Hero and Legendary if this doesn't change, especially those users just signing up. Hopefully theymos will add users more frequently but this is one more issue that will likely be put on the backburner of things to do but never get done.

There’s another dimension to the problem which we’ve talked about around Meta, and that is the amount of merit per TX or per post. Specifically, on local boards the people rank up really slowly there, and many of them get a large part of their merit outside their local board. For example, this weekend I want to update and publish a list of Spanish Local users that have ranked-up. The number is really low (20: 1 now Sr. Member, 2 Full Members and 17 Members). Out of these, 4 or 5 people have received 100% of their merits on the local board, and the rest are cross-board members.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Very inpressive work OP, will have to send Merit your way. That really is some in depth analysis.

Wow!

[Talk merit]

I've got two streaks in the first list, and no streaks on any of the individual boards. I guess that shows what an erratic personality I have. I should focus on some areas in the Bitcoin Talk forum, but which board is consistently the most stimulating. With all the changes that are going on in the world, politics should provide a constant flow of premium discussions in my opinion. Flying Hellfish has done a tremendous job in sanitising that board,but he needs the support of some of the quality posters here. The threads that get the most replies seem to be the ones one would expect to see in a school debating society. Discussions on international political topics are frequently ignored. The Ivory Tower and serious discussion seem to generate more responses. I think it is a shame, as good local opinion from some of the troubled countries is hard to find.

[edit] That post referred to Jet Cash of course. I didn't realise I was logged in as Talk Merit.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...> I think it is a shame, as good local opinion from some of the troubled countries is hard to find <...>

Politics and Society is an area I’m reading these days quite a bit, and indeed it does seem to be a pretty clean board with potential to grow on international issue discussion. Venezuela’s situation has been commented on some good threads, but now Argentina seems to be suffering quite a bit, with a 31% inter-annual inflation and a 55% depreciation of their national currency (El Peso) against the Dollar. Catalonia (Spain) is slowly building up to social confrontation in what is probably the EUs greatest inner threat (as if it didn’t have enough problems). I tried to explain the latter focusing on society on a post called Spain, Catalonia - The yellow ribbon road to social confrontation .
Politics and Society is also one of the least merited boards (local boards aside), with a running total of 0,53% of total awarded merit (even off-topic doubles those results).

[hilariousetc]

Yeah, I've noticed some very good quality posts never receive any merit whatsoever. Its not like they aren't being seen either. There's a few posts in the serious discussion section which I think deserve a few merit. The recent discussion on the tax debate has some interesting replies.

Probably a bad example because they have received quite a bit of merit since I last checked, but there's a few other topics, and replies in that section which seem to just be glanced over.

I think the issue is two fold. Most people don't have many merits so have to be frugal with them, and posts can get buried very fast. Even threads with worthwhile discussion happening where gems can be found they quickly get buried by dozens of users making generic one/two liners. When those users are getting paid as Juniors or whatever rank they automatically have it doesn't really matter to them and there's no real incentive for them to improve. That's why I'm strongly pushing for a merit requirement for users to become Juniors. If we removed their signatures completely then thus would force users to have to get ten merit and become a Member before they could even earn in the first place. I think this will have a huge effect on the quality of posts here as bots and spammers will get no where or not very far without getting the merit in whatever capacity.

Yes, @nullius will maintain records for quite a while, bearing in mind both the quality of the posts and that there was a merrier merit awarding possibility closer to the beginning of the Merit System kick-off than now. Only recently have a few users surpassed him on total aggregate received sMerits, and months have gone by since he was last active.

I'm sure he will be eclipsed soon, especially as he's MIA now. Though as I mentioned above the lack of people giving merit is an issue. If it wasn't for Welsh giving me some yesterday I would have broken my combo despite writing 9 or so pretty decent lengthy posts (in my opinion). Again, I'm not going to lose sleep over merit as it's largely irrelevant to me now but there are plenty of others possibly even more deserving who will go umerited. Quality users will get there eventually anyway, but 'average' or even above average users will likely struggle.

[Jet Cash]

I think the issue is two fold. Most people don't have many merits so have to be frugal with them, and posts can get buried very fast. Even threads with worthwhile discussion happening where gems can be found they quickly get buried by dozens of users making generic one/two liners.

I don't think the first point is the issue. I agree that your second point is a major problem. If more good posts were seen and merited, then that would solve the first issue.

[hilariousetc]

I think the issue is two fold. Most people don't have many merits so have to be frugal with them, and posts can get buried very fast. Even threads with worthwhile discussion happening where gems can be found they quickly get buried by dozens of users making generic one/two liners.

I don't think the first point is the issue. I agree that your second point is a major problem. If more good posts were seen and merited, then that would solve the first issue.

If you're not a merit source then you can probably run out of them very fast, especially if you're giving out more than one per post. Remember, for those that aren't merit sources you will only have them to give when people actually merit you (which isn't that frequent for most) and then you only have half the amount to 'spend' so it will quickly go and when users don't merit others more than one/two/three  at a time often that leaves little merit to send on.

[Hueristic]

Interesting info. Thanks for compiling it.

Some forum members appear various times on the list with multiple streaks amongst the top 50. Hilariousetc and xtraelv were on an on-going streak at the time of data extraction, and really have a +2 days and +1 additional streak length looking over their merit this week.

And I've yet to receive a single merit today despite making some quality shit. C'mon, fuckers. Don't make me merit myself from my main account and get negbombed  .

Seriously though, I think the amount of merit sources or people actually giving merit is actually an issue right now. I don't really care that much about receiving merit personally because it's useless for me as Legendary now (unless additional ranks or badges are awarded for high merited users), though it is nice to know people have read and appreciated your posts, but there's a lot of quality posts I see that just don't get merited at all. I think even decent/great posters will struggle to rank up to levels of Hero and Legendary if this doesn't change, especially those users just signing up. Hopefully theymos will add users more frequently but this is one more issue that will likely be put on the backburner of things to do but never get done.

Contrarian posts in circle jerk threads do not get merited period and those accounts can count on not receiving merits after those posts. But on the bright side dropping memes can make you famous.

Yeah, I've noticed some very good quality posts never receive any merit whatsoever. Its not like they aren't being seen either. There's a few posts in the serious discussion section which I think deserve a few merit. The recent discussion on the tax debate has some interesting replies.

Probably a bad example because they have received quite a bit of merit since I last checked, but there's a few other topics, and replies in that section which seem to just be glanced over.

I think the issue is two fold. Most people don't have many merits so have to be frugal with them, and posts can get buried very fast. Even threads with worthwhile discussion happening where gems can be found they quickly get buried by dozens of users making generic one/two liners. When those users are getting paid as Juniors or whatever rank they automatically have it doesn't really matter to them and there's no real incentive for them to improve. That's why I'm strongly pushing for a merit requirement for users to become Juniors. If we removed their signatures completely then thus would force users to have to get ten merit and become a Member before they could even earn in the first place. I think this will have a huge effect on the quality of posts here as bots and spammers will get no where or not very far without getting the merit in whatever capacity.
...

This and a crackdown on the bounty managers that allow and reward bot accounts.

[Jet Cash]

If you're not a merit source then you can probably run out of them very fast, especially if you're giving out more than one per post. Remember, for those that aren't merit sources you will only have them to give when people actually merit you (which isn't that frequent for most) and then you only have half the amount to 'spend' so it will quickly go and when users don't merit others more than one/two/three  at a time often that leaves little merit to send on.

I agree, but my point was that by making it hard for merit sources to find meritable posts, you deprive those who would have received merits of the chance to award them. sMerit awards have half lives as you know, and this means that every sMerit awarded by a merit source adds virtually one more merit for the community to award. It's even worse than that, because if a merit source ends the day with some unawarded sMerits, then the replacement of those is delayed by a day. I've tried to make spammers aware that their activities reduce the number of sMerit available for their associates as well as themselves. However, they don't seem to get the message.

[hilariousetc]

Combo was broken yesterday 


Merit ruins lives  .

Contrarian posts in circle jerk threads do not get merited period and those accounts can count on not receiving merits after those posts. But on the bright side dropping memes can make you famous.

Not necessarily. I've given a few merits out to people who I didn't agree with, but they've certainly made the effort or put their point across articulately. I agree that people tend to give them more to posts they agree with or 'like' but there's nothing we can do abut that other than try urge users to give posts for effort rather than you just agreeing with them or liking their point.

And memes can be both funny and constructive. At least they lighten this place up a bit. I'd much rather merit a meme that a one-liner (especially if they've actually edited/customised the meme to be relevant).

Yeah, I've noticed some very good quality posts never receive any merit whatsoever. Its not like they aren't being seen either. There's a few posts in the serious discussion section which I think deserve a few merit. The recent discussion on the tax debate has some interesting replies.

Probably a bad example because they have received quite a bit of merit since I last checked, but there's a few other topics, and replies in that section which seem to just be glanced over.

I think the issue is two fold. Most people don't have many merits so have to be frugal with them, and posts can get buried very fast. Even threads with worthwhile discussion happening where gems can be found they quickly get buried by dozens of users making generic one/two liners. When those users are getting paid as Juniors or whatever rank they automatically have it doesn't really matter to them and there's no real incentive for them to improve. That's why I'm strongly pushing for a merit requirement for users to become Juniors. If we removed their signatures completely then thus would force users to have to get ten merit and become a Member before they could even earn in the first place. I think this will have a huge effect on the quality of posts here as bots and spammers will get no where or not very far without getting the merit in whatever capacity.

This and a crackdown on the bounty managers that allow and reward bot accounts.

Yeah. Neither of these things require much effort from theymos, he just needs to actually implment them and let staff handle the rest.

[Kate Beckett]

I agree that people tend to give them more to posts they agree with or 'like' but there's nothing we can do abut that other than try urge users to give posts for effort rather than you just agreeing with them or liking their point.

I believe that the meaning of merit is different from a simple like. Merit is deserved not by the post with which we agree, but by one in which the author consistently and reasonably expresses his point of view. You can agree with him, or you may not. But in any case, it isn`t just an attempt to write a constructive and useful commentary that deserve merit, but an intelligible and precise report of someone`s point of view. It is through argumentative statements between participants that a discussion can begin. Even if their views don`t coincide, but they explain them and prove, with respect to the contrary opinion and listening to the arguments of the oponents, the forum members will certainly discover something new. As we know, in a dispute, truth is born. And merit is worth giving to those who help to approach it, and not just those with whom we agree.

[LoyceV]

Nullius has the longest streak to date, having received sMerit for 31 days in a row, totalling 518 sMerits during that streak. LoyceV falls short by only 4 days, having a streak of 27 days

And there I was, thinking I overtook nullius on Merit (even though it took me more than twice as long). It turns out he found a way to be on top again without even logging in!

All these three top streaks were achieved during the early days of the Merit System.

All jokes aside, nice list! I recognize most usernames in the top 50; the subsection top has mainly unknown names.
It's very time consuming to continuously produce high quality posts, and even when you do you won't receive Merit every day. That does explain why the longest streaks were close to the introduction of Merit, when more users had more sMerit to give.

Nevertheless, the Member segment does not follow the trend, as it outperforms the ranks above it by having noticeably more streaks of 2 days in a row as the maximum streak for its segment.

Could this be due to merit trading? Say someone buys 10 Merit to become Member, and receives them on a few different days to avoid detection? To test this hypothesis: can you add a line to the table (number 4.) for Members who received exactly 10, 11 or 12 Merit?
I would expect this new category to have more streaks, and the remaining Members will have less streaks.

Majority of accounts on these list are known people from Bitcointalk. I wonder when will someone shows and stood up against those

You make it sound as if it's a bad thing to be on this list. I wish much more people would stand up to join this list, because that means this forum is getting better.

I don't think that his record is unbreakable, remember LoyceV on fell short of only 4 days which is really near and LoyceV is also very active in the forum currently

Thanks for the confidence, but it's unlikely to happen. My second longest streak was in August, and reached only 15 days. I don't think it's very likely to reach 27 again, let alone 31. Unless the total Merit distribution and thus the chance of each post to receive Merit goes up significantly.

he is also a merit source which means that there is a high chance that the one he has sent the merits to has a certain influence on returning back the favor.

I think (and hope) this doesn't happens often. Most of the time I give 1 Merit only, and 0.5 sMerit isn't enough to be returned.
By this logic, suchmoon should be the most merited person, as he's distributed 6 times more Merit than I did.

C'mon, fuckers. Don't make me merit myself from my main account and get negbombed  .

I'm confused, are you merit begging your Global Moderator alt? Lol

I've given a few merits out to people who I didn't agree with, but they've certainly made the effort or put their point across articulately.

On rare occasions, I didn't give Merit to posts that are worth reading, out of fear of that being interpreted as me endorsing the user.

This list can easily be gamed: I see a possibility to put satoshi on top, all I need to do is send him 1 Merit for one of his posts for the next 32 days

[Silent26]

I'm about to merit the thread but when I'm in the "Merit a post" page I realised that I don't have any sMerits left, will reserve one of my future sMerit for this thread.

Back to the discussion,

You make it sound as if it's a bad thing to be on this list. I wish much more people would stand up to join this list, because that means this forum is getting better.

Well, I guess it's too difficult to be one of these members who were listed but it's worth a try to do everything just to be included. Hmm but no luck for me to be one.

I think the issue is two fold. Most people don't have many merits so have to be frugal with them, and posts can get buried very fast. Even threads with worthwhile discussion happening where gems can be found they quickly get buried by dozens of users making generic one/two liners.

That's true, that's why it is much better to Merit a post immediately when you saw a deserving one than to give it later because you won't be able to see that post again unless you dig those shitposts until you see the buried good post. This happens a lot in our local board and not just there, I can't believe why good discussions are always getting covered up by shits instantly. Maybe spammers really love shit discussions?

If you're not a merit source then you can probably run out of them very fast, especially if you're giving out more than one per post. Remember,

Agree, since I have limited sMerits to give, I think it's just fine to give/distribute merit one per posts. It's still worth it.