[MERIT][NSFN] We're destroying more merits than we're sending. Like, way more.

[mightwalker]

There are 2 major problems that make it as difficult situation:
- People try to earn merit as fast as possible because of how much signature campaigns willing to pay, it's quite high.
- When 1st merit system was launched, old members receive "airdrop merits" based on their rank. Some of the high-rank members think they don't need to contribute anymore, just use this advantages for earning money through signature campaigns.
Actually, buying/selling merits are continuing to happen, and it's more sophisticated.

[1715015855]

1715015855

[1715015855]

1715015855

[hilariousetc]

I think this is why we should up the requirement to ten before they can have a signature

Just restrict signatures to members and above.

Well that's exactly what I wanted in the first place. One merit is fine to move up from Newbie to Junior rank, but not to be able to get a signature and start earning here, especially when it is so easy to abuse. Anyone can beg, buy or trade a solitary merit but ten is obviously ten times more harder to get (or ten times more expensive). I think we should remove signatures from Junior members and see how that goes. If people are still abusing it en mass we can then remove signatures from Members eventually and then let's see how easy it is for them to beg or buy 100 merits before they can start earning here. Now that really would make a difference.

[suchmoon]

Updated the OP with ~3 weeks of data. 61k merits gone, 36k within the last week.

I may have helped this spike - had some binge reporting last week. Not sure how much of an impact that had though since I don't have a direct link between reported and banned users.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Updated the OP with ~3 weeks of data. 61k merits gone, 36k within the last week.

I may have helped this spike - had some binge reporting last week. Not sure how much of an impact that had though since I don't have a direct link between reported and banned users.

Just got banned one more legendary today, 1001 more merit to be added.
I've reported total of 2 Legendaries till now.

[Parodium]

Over 2,500 newbies banned... Wow.

Pretty sure that the vast majority of signature spamming newbies have cheated their way to at least 1 merit now. Looks like high rank accounts are going to be destroyed faster than they are created now, 4 Legendary accounts wiped out, definitely takes a lot longer than 2 weeks to see 4 people rank up from Hero to Legendary these days.

Either way, merit destruction can be countered by producing more merit sources, or by more careful distribution of merit from current members.

[LoyceV]

Over 2,500 newbies banned... Wow.

They were banned in 3 weeks, but that amount of Newbies respawns in just over a day. So maybe 5% gets banned, while I don't think more than 5% are real valuable users. That leaves 90% of potential spammers walking free.

Pretty sure that the vast majority of signature spamming newbies have cheated their way to at least 1 merit now.

I don't think so, only a few thousand got Merit, and as far as I know many tens of thousands were demoted.

Looks like high rank accounts are going to be destroyed faster than they are created now, 4 Legendary accounts wiped out, definitely takes a lot longer than 2 weeks to see 4 people rank up from Hero to Legendary these days.

That's the truely good news! New spammers can't rank up, existing spammers are slowly being wiped out.

Either way, merit destruction can be countered by producing more merit sources, or by more careful distribution of merit from current members.

It could, but merit destruction is not a bad thing if it means destroying spammers.

[mahdie88]

Pretty sure that the vast majority of signature spamming newbies have cheated their way to at least 1 merit now.

Some of newbies are trying their best to engaged in this forum. They just want to work hard, even though some of them are not speaking English very well. Just respect them, they are working hard as like you do.
 ------------------------------

[Lafu]

Some of newbies are trying their best to engaged in this forum. They just want to work hard, even though some of them are not speaking English very well. Just respect them, they are working hard as like you do.
 ------------------------------

But only a few do working for that, the most are only on the hunt for merits and are not afraid to do plagiarism for it to get it or else !

Sooner or later we will get everyone cheating!

[mahdie88]

But only a few do working for that, the most are only on the hunt for merits and are not afraid to do plagiarism for it to get it or else !
Sooner or later we will get everyone cheating!

Yes, you are right about that. Those who can write good English can easily get their merit in no time. Unlike people who can't even write a sentence without correcting their grammar will get caught and getting a warning for spamming the thread not knowing they don't have the intention of spamming it they just want to engage.

[Vod]

Just restrict signatures to members and above.

Or restrict lower ranked signatures to just one line of text - no formatting.  That is a traditional signature.

[coinerz]

Is there any actual benefit to merits? Do higher merited users get more features?

[TheBeardedBaby]

Is there any actual benefit to merits? Do higher merited users get more features?

No man, no extra benefits, the only benefit is that it allows you to rank up. The side effect is that you build kind of reputation of non-shitposter as the spam is a big issue nowadays.
You can quick look here > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.msg25841174#post_guide_merit
Check Extra info links too.

[Flash Cunt]

The forum is awash with merits that are waiting to be awarded. Who cares if some of them get burned as the rubbish is chucked out.

Hopefully we aren't chucking out the babies with the dirty bathwater, and the new merits will help to build healthy new babies here.

[RivAngE]

Is there any actual benefit to merits? Do higher merited users get more features?

No man, no extra benefits, the only benefit is that it allows you to rank up. The side effect is that you build kind of reputation of non-shitposter as the spam is a big issue nowadays.
You can quick look here > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.msg25841174#post_guide_merit
Check Extra info links too.

Actually the fact that you can wear more complex signatures is something you'd call it extra feature/benefit.
Newbies can't wear signatures at all
Jr Members (30 activity + 1 merit) can wear a short signature without links, special characters and colorful text.
Members (60 activity + 10 merits) can have longer signatures with links and special characters, but no colors.
Full Member (120 activity + 100 merits) can have even longer signatures and colorful text. They can also add an avatar.

I think the only difference above Full Member rank is the longer text allowed in the signature, nothing else.

Now if you're really a newbie here, you might wonder why people are trying to cheat the system just for a better signature. That's because our beloved ICO scams are distributing 0-value tokens to forums users who are posting (spamming?) in the forums with an advertising signature.

There are also legit projects though, but those few legit ones will filter the users manually and select only those with good history. The merits earned are an important factor for the filtering.

Aaaaand a question: What does "nuke" mean? I noticed the stats are mentioning "bans and nukes".

[TheBeardedBaby]

Is there any actual benefit to merits? Do higher merited users get more features?

No man, no extra benefits, the only benefit is that it allows you to rank up. The side effect is that you build kind of reputation of non-shitposter as the spam is a big issue nowadays.
You can quick look here > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.msg25841174#post_guide_merit
Check Extra info links too.

Actually the fact that you can wear more complex signatures is something you'd call it extra feature/benefit.
Newbies can't wear signatures at all
Jr Members (30 activity + 1 merit) can wear a short signature without links, special characters and colorful text.
Members (60 activity + 10 merits) can have longer signatures with links and at special characters, but no colors.
Full Member (120 activity + 100 merits) can have even longer signatures and colorful text. They can also add an avatar.

I think the only difference above Full Member rank is the longer text allowed in the signature, nothing else.

Now if you're really a newbie here, you might wonder why people are trying to cheat the system just for a better signature. That's because our beloved ICO scams are distributing 0-value tokens to forums users who are posting (spamming?) in the forums with an advertising signature.

There are also legit projects though, but those few legit ones will filter the users manually and select only those with good history. The merits earned are an important factor for the filtering.

Aaaaand a question: What does "nuke" mean? I noticed the stats are mentioning "bans and nukes".

Merit alone gives you no benefits. As I mentioned above it helps you only to Rank-Up and all the benefits with the higher ranks are not only merit but activity related too.

Aaaaand a question: What does "nuke" mean? I noticed the stats are mentioning "bans and nukes".

Ban means that your post history will be preserved but you cannot post anymore/send pm anymore.
The Nuke as it sounds, in addition to the ban, wipes out all the post history so you end up with 0 posts and activity. AFAIK only newbies can be nuked, but I guess theymos and cyrus can also nuke higher ranked members.

[hotforblockchain]

Interesting post, great job OP.

I  did not find how did you get to this number- 61k merit wasted.  Did you calculate from banned users or is there statistics somewhere available?

[suchmoon]

Interesting post, great job OP.

I  did not find how did you get to this number- 61k merit wasted.  Did you calculate from banned users or is there statistics somewhere available?

The number was calculated by summing up the amount of merit shown on each banned user's profile.

[hotforblockchain]

Interesting post, great job OP.

I  did not find how did you get to this number- 61k merit wasted.  Did you calculate from banned users or is there statistics somewhere available?

The number was calculated by summing up the amount of merit shown on each banned user's profile.

Do you mean merit or their smerit?

For example, if Full member has 100 merits by default and we add them up, what does it mean- can we say that these merits has been wasted.
If this amount was airdropped to user, then it does not account to much
But if we would add up the smerits that would be more appropriate for  term " wasted"  since it is something that could have been used productively.

[Jet Cash]

I don't think there is a shortage of merits waiting to be awarded, so the destruction of bad merits isn't really a waste. What is a waste is the time that was spent by mods in getting rid of them.

Has anyone worked out how much merit is available and waiting to be awarded?

[suchmoon]

Do you mean merit or their smerit?

For example, if Full member has 100 merits by default and we add them up, what does it mean- can we say that these merits has been wasted.
If this amount was airdropped to user, then it does not account to much
But if we would add up the smerits that would be more appropriate for  term " wasted"  since it is something that could have been used productively.

I'm adding up merit. I can't see anyone's sMerit except my own.

We can debate if "wasted" is the right word but the fact is that we have hordes of shitposters complaining how hard it is to rank up and here we see what they do with those ranks. To me that looks like a waste from their own perspective. They are throwing away their airdropped/hard earned/bought merits by breaking forum rules and getting banned. Personally I don't have a problem with it, just like Jet Cash above. Merits are not scarce. The bad ones getting "wasted" is perfect. Allows the good ones to float to the top.