Finally a turtle crossed the finish line

[r1s2g3]

I am writing this post to express my feelings on my recent rank change. Strangely this rank change actually did not bring any excitement to me.
Anyways this took too long to reach here and even I am never sure that I will be able to reach here.

This ranking give me access to the "Ivory Tower" and allow me to use avatar in my profile and I guess now I have same rights in the forum that a Legendary user have .(leaving  about the difference in signature specifications. )

My goals in the forum still remain the same i.e reading ,learning ,posting and enjoying my overall stay.In this process few users got reported by me and few got permabanned for plagiarism though I am not specifically hunting for them.

I find this forum a gem (not only for crypto currency but overall) because here open discussion take place , everybody put their opinion and everybody got the own right of "Agree to Disagree". Though somebody argue about the spam problem here then I will say that after spending few weeks in this forum you automatically develop the understanding what  to read and what to filter out. Truly global in nature , you can find two extremes in post and sometimes make you wonder that is it really the same forum that is started to discuss about Bitcoins?

It will be unfair if I do not mention BTCforJoe who did the honest post reviews of the participants in his "Joe Signatureless Challenge". Jet Cash for dropping the cues to get merits. TMAN for sarcastic comment , though I never get any from him but life is too short to learn everything from our own experiences.

I will also like to say "thank you" to countless forum volunteers that are posting the content that really enlighten me and working in field of catching spammer,scammer  and plagiarist to make my stay pleasant here.

Hope, you all enjoyed the story of my journey in this forum.

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[Gloverwrt]

Congratulations on achieving thus milestone in little less than a year. And also encouraging others by sharing your successes.
And.through reading, learning and helping we could also rise up the ranks.

[TMAN]

You ranked up as you aren't a shitposting pajeet here only for bounties, you are yet more proof that the merit system works. Well done for achieving it bud, but as you say it didn't give you any excitement, that is a positive thing as you know you deserved it bud.

keep on at it man

[mu_enrico]

It's like when you lose your virginity. At some point, you really want it, but after it happened, it feels pretty much normal (nothing changed). However, after that, you will have the confidence to bang another higher rank chick. Welcome to the club!

PS. I'm a nine years old virgin.

[The Cryptovator]

Congrats... for your achievement. As well you have tried your best to contribute yourself for forum. That's the reasone you have rank up. This is the one of proof that merit system is working fine. To be honest I will be exited once my rank up. Because ranks bear the weight how you are contributing yourself. My bad luck still I am  not Sr. Member even I have earned enough merit. Because my activity is low. However I believe you will continue your contributions to help forum. Best of luck.

[Marshall14]

Ranks are commensurate to your contributions on the forum,as contributions increase merits and merits invariably increase ranks, so you really deserve your new rank I must say....Congratulations

What makes it even the more sweeter is in the space of time done,less than a year
You sure do stand out as a quintessential example to lower ranked members like myself

Congratulations once again

[cabalism13]

Anyways this took too long to reach here and even I am never sure that I will be able to reach here.

We're so close when it comes to activity, I think I may celebrate first my Anniversary here rather than achieving the Full Member rank.
Still expecting to rank up on a short time. It wasn't bad at all, as long as we get promoted here

And yet, I don't have sMerits to use so I was thinking to start a post that is something's off to my style
Congrats mate! Same as to Daboy Lyle who also ranked up recently into Full Member.
(Can't wait for my turn hahaha )

[greeklogos]

It's like when you lose your virginity. At some point, you really want it, but after it happened, it feels pretty much normal (nothing changed). However, after that, you will have the confidence to bang another higher rank chick. Welcome to the club!

PS. I'm a nine years old virgin.

Nice parallel with virginity, man! 
OP's posts are really good and he truly deserved to rank up. I wish him and good posters alike him to move forward.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

OP, looks like I never gave you any merits (had to check the bpip site to verify that), and that's probably because of my bias against giving merits to low-ranking members posting in Meta--but having just looked at your posting history, your posts are actually pretty decent.  I gave you 2 merits as my way of apologizing for the prejudice and oversight.  Don't have many more sMerits to send, else I would have given you more because your post here was excellent. 

Congrats on ranking up.  Frankly I didn't realize that Ivory Tower access was rank-restricted, but I don't think you've missed out on much by not being able to post there.  And I forgot about the avatar issue.  I thought you had to have at least Member rank to have one, but I have avatars blocked in my settings so no surprise I've forgotten the way that works.

And yeah, it did take you a while to rank up to Full Member given that you've been here since the start of the merit system, but on the other hand you haven't made as many posts as a lot of other members who've been here less than a year and who've earned far less merit than you did.  You compare your progress to that of a turtle trying to get somewhere, but getting to Full Member in 10 months with 865 posts isn't all that bad.  It's supposed to be a slow process, even though I think for a lot of members it's turning out to be too slow.

I'll keep you on my radar, and I'm sure I'll be coming across your posts since a lot of them are in Meta. 

[jackg]

@r1s2g3 I’m actually kind of surprised it took you so long. I mean congrats on the new rank but there are points where I think the merit system is too harsh on good quality posters (almost makes me want to become a merit source but I know I don’t have the time).

Anyway keep going with the good quality and you may still earn merits on the posts you make a while ago if another user stumbles across it and thinks it’s good.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Congrats!
Everyone can rank up, but if you wrongly prioritize your goals, it may never happen.
People putting their priorities in the following order fail.
1. Get Merit
2. Rank up
3. Get more money.
4. Go to 1.

The right priorities are :

1. Be curious
2. Start reading
3. Learn
4. Be part of the community
5. Do something to help the others

The result will be exactly what the the guys from the first list are aiming for.

[TBboys]

Congrats！
But, this is not the finish line, you can actually go further.
Of course, this is the finish line for most people.
You should summarize your experience of how to cross the “finish” line, which is very helpful for people who are still far away from finish line.

Congrats!
Everyone can rank up, but if you wrongly prioritize your goals, it may never happen.
People putting their priorities in the following order fail.
1. Get Merit
2. Rank up
3. Get more money.
4. Go to 1.

The right priorities are :

1. Be curious
2. Start reading
3. Learn
4. Be part of the community
5. Do something to help the others

The result will be exactly what the the guys from the first list are aiming for.

Well said!
What do we want? Merit, rank up, money?   Yes?  Although I like money, sometimes money is not everything.
How do we get them? Begging, deceiving, trading?  NO!
What should we do?  Learning.

But learning is a very difficult thing for many people, especially the knowledge about crypto, to be honest, it's really difficult.
So we need to figure out two questions are “learn what, how to learn ”.
About “learn what”，I think we should learn the rules, learn the knowledge, learn everything we interested in.
About “how to learn”, I think we should be more reading, more asking, more debating.
Only by figuring out these questions can we really learn what we want and get what we want.

[jackg]

Congrats！
But, this is not the finish line, you can actually go further.
Of course, this is the finish line for most people.
You should summarize your experience of how to cross the “finish” line, which is very helpful for people who are still far away from finish line.

Congrats!
Everyone can rank up, but if you wrongly prioritize your goals, it may never happen.
People putting their priorities in the following order fail.
1. Get Merit
2. Rank up
3. Get more money.
4. Go to 1.

The right priorities are :

1. Be curious
2. Start reading
3. Learn
4. Be part of the community
5. Do something to help the others

The result will be exactly what the the guys from the first list are aiming for.

Well said!
What do we want? Merit, rank up, money?   YES!
How do we get them? Begging, deceiving, trading?  NO!
What should we do?  Learning.

But learning is a very difficult thing for many people, especially the knowledge about crypto, to be honest, it's really difficult.
So we need to figure out two questions are “learn what, how to learn ”.
About “learn what”，I think we should learn the rules, learn the knowledge, learn everything we interested in.
About “how to learn”, I think we should be more reading, more asking, more debating.
Only by figuring out these questions can we really learn what we want and get what we want.

One of the key things I’ve learnt in my life about the subject of computer science (probably something bitcoin relates to the most) is that there’s always a subject that interests people and there always a way to relate it to bitcoin. It’s one of thenmost important things to do is to learn about the currency and pick a section that interests you the most. I go on quite a few sections but I have the tech support, meta and alternative clients boards on my watch.ist and I check fairly regularly to see if something of interest comes up at any point and to see if I can contribute in a constructive way.

The goal is not to earn merits, the goal is to be here and be an active part of the community as said above, and only then will you be able to reach your merit potential.

[vit05]

You ranked up as you aren't a shitposting pajeet here only for bounties, you are yet more proof that the merit system works. Well done for achieving it bud, but as you say it didn't give you any excitement, that is a positive thing as you know you deserved it bud.

Merits introduced gamification to the use of the forum. Anyone who uses the forum weekly and has not reached the Legendary level will try on several occasions to receive merits for what he wrote or produced. It is a way of receiving a satisfaction for having done something good, something useful.

Unfortunately, merits are still very tied to issues related to utility. That is, those who produced something useful receive tons of merits. As one of the few useful things that have been constantly produced in the forum are statistics about merits, these topics are the ones that receive most. Those who produce something useful looking for and unmasking scams, plagiarists and double accounts are also very well rewarded with tons of merits.

This is useful for improving the quality of the discussions and improving the forum as a whole. So the merits system works if the intention is just to improve the forum.

But I hope that in a second moment the merit system will go ahead. And it becomes a mechanism to encourage deeper discussions about cryptocurrencies. For this, the main sections of the forum still need to be cleaned off the exaggerated amount of spam.

Congratulations to OP for ranking up. It really feels very good. And I'm sure, by the quality of your posts, that soon you will already be a Sr.

[r1s2g3]

+1 for you, to keep you motivated. I remember that I read in your post that you are a student. I think this is your most crucial phase of your life.
Try to gather as much knowledge and soft skills because once you step out of the college,might you will not get that much time.

I think the merit system is too harsh on good quality posters.

 

 I checked stats in Vod Site's , so currently 380  users earned 100 or more merits. This includes the like of satoshi, laszlo (pizza guy),gamekyuubi (Hodl guy) ,Theymos, Loyce V et al. So actual number of user who registered in December 2017 and gained 100+ might be much less than 380.
At one time, I like to suggest to reduce the earned Merit requirement so that more user can progess. I will never favor relaxation in giving merit because we have a army of shitposters that want to be get merited in their bounty reports and this army will always complain.
In reality, this "harshness" of merit helped many to comprehend better and post better.

I'll keep you on my radar, and I'm sure I'll be coming across your posts since a lot of them are in Meta. 

Thanks. Actually your merits helped me to complete one personal milestone i.e getting merits from 50 different users in this forum.

[jackg]

+1 for you, to keep you motivated. I remember that I read in your post that you are a student. I think this is your most crucial phase of your life.
Try to gather as much knowledge and soft skills because once you step out of the college,might you will not get that much time.

I think the merit system is too harsh on good quality posters.

 

 I checked stats in Vod Site's , so currently 380  users earned 100 or more merits. This includes the like of satoshi, laszlo (pizza guy),gamekyuubi (Hodl guy) ,Theymos, Loyce V et al. So actual number of user who registered in December 2017 and gained 100+ might be much less than 380.
At one time, I like to suggest to reduce the earned Merit requirement so that more user can progess. I will never favor relaxation in giving merit because we have a army of shitposters that want to be get merited in their bounty reports and this army will always complain.
In reality, this "harshness" of merit helped many to comprehend better and post better.

I'll keep you on my radar, and I'm sure I'll be coming across your posts since a lot of them are in Meta. 

Thanks. Actually your merits helped me to complete one personal milestone i.e getting merits from 50 different users in this forum.

I’m one of the 100+ too. I’d have liked it to be higher and I think some merits can come from how well users recognise you as a member, so the longer you’re here the more merits you should theoretically get.
Full member I’d personally put at 50 therefore, sr at 150 and the others the same I reckon that’d be fairer but it’s probaly best just to leave it as is.

[xtraelv]

Firstly congratulations to the OP for ranking up. Even TMAN gave you a compliment.  

Unfortunately, merits are still very tied to issues related to utility. That is, those who produced something useful receive tons of merits. As one of the few useful things that have been constantly produced in the forum are statistics about merits, these topics are the ones that receive most. Those who produce something useful looking for and unmasking scams, plagiarists and double accounts are also very well rewarded with tons of merits.

This is useful for improving the quality of the discussions and improving the forum as a whole. So the merits system works if the intention is just to improve the forum.

Merit sources have limited time. Giving merits to people working to make the forum a better place distributes merits through (usually) reliable members via sMerits.
Because they are looking for "scams, plagiarists and double accounts" they are also in a good position to distribute Merits from the sMerits that they receive.

A lot of the merit sources and senior members are interested in the inner workings an administration of the forum. Part of this is getting rid of the spammers and shit-posters. Often when I have a excess of sMerits I go on the hunt for newbies to give merits to. A lot of the time I get disappointed and end up reporting them for plagiarism or other deliberate rule violations. If I believe it is accidental I usually send a PM rather than reporting them.

Genuine newbies are hard to find. Some of them pose as newbies but are really account farmers for campaigns.

I look for genuine opinions - not something that someone writes because they think it is what someone wants to hear. Consistency in their other posts and for signs that they are interested in discussion rather than talking at people.

Looking for genuine newbies can be quite exhausting and often involves having to dredge through hundreds of posts to find a deserving one. I do challenge members to do that.  

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

When I saw the headlines, immediately I was eager to know how the turtle crossed the finish line. You got me there. Firstly I have to say, nice headline and secondly, congratulations on your achievement. I get you feel that way about your ranking up. Like they say it's only a poor man that thinks money will make him happy but realizes that's isn't true when he finally gets the money. Once again congratulations r1s2g3,

[Lafu]

@OP

Congrats for rank up ! 

I will also like to say "thank you" to countless forum volunteers that are posting the content that really enlighten me and working in field of catching spammer,scammer  and plagiarist to make my stay pleasant here.

But you are a part of this volunteers too , and nice to see you keep going on that !   

[Direwolve735]

My congratulations with the new higher rank!

When I read such stories, I`m once again convinced not only of the correct functioning of the merit-system, which allows those, who really deserve it, to rise up, but also that you can always achieve your goal if you make good efforts to do so. Those, who only whine about how much they have been prevented from living by innovations on the bitcointalk, will never increase their rank. Only endeavor and motivation help achieve the desired result. I`d like to see a lot more of such threads than titles like "How unfair is the merit system" or "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" or "I write good posts and follow the rules, but noone notices my diligence".