IS THE MERIT SYSTEM being used correctly by a small clique of individuals here

[seoincorporation]

Hello cryptohunter, i understand your worries. Sometimes i see that Merit mafia too but is just paranoia.

That high merit receivers/givers are circle jerking and backslapping each other and not seeking out lower rank members

Some users roll that way, i mean, if you become a friend of merit sources that resumes in more chance to get merits. But the merit sources are working hard to make a fair distribution of merits, or at least is that way in the Spanish section with our great merit source JetCash. This guy is making weekly merits giveaways to give the chance to all users to get merits as you can see on this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5064480.0 and he even create a thread called 'The merit to become junior' (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5030808.0) on that thread he offers one merit to newbies if they bring a good quality post.

So, as you say we see a lot of users making a merit circle, but a lot of them are helping newbies too. So, let's not be paranoids and if you see someone abusing the system, then report him.

[1714828772]

1714828772

[1714828772]

1714828772

[1714828772]

1714828772

[1714828772]

1714828772

[DdmrDdmr]

And here I was trying to ease off the stats....

The Top 50 Receivers have received  26,38% of their sMerits on average from within the top 50 Receivers. That means 73,63% comes from outside of the top 50. Good enough for me ..

nMeritTop50:             Merit Received from top 50 Receivers .
nMeritReceivedTotal:  Total Merit Received.      

Code:

nMeritTop50    nMeritReceivedTotal    %         user_id        name                               url
490            1172           41,81%         1582324        DdmrDdmr                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1582324
393            1203           32,67%         459836         LoyceV                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
387            1044           37,07%         397737         hilariousetc                       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=397737
338            779            43,39%         897509         xtraelv                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=897509
307            991            30,98%         479624         Last of the V8s                    https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
302            817            36,96%         1067333        micgoossens                        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1067333
299            869            34,41%         487418         The Pharmacist                     https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=487418
297            2878           10,32%         35             theymos                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=35
273            776            35,18%         698159         Jet Cash                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=698159
250            643            38,88%         1188543        o_e_l_e_o                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1188543
247            602            41,03%         1291828        iasenko                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1291828
243            507            47,93%         787736         marlboroza                         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=787736
240            764            31,41%         976210         nullius                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=976210
230            900            25,56%         234771         suchmoon                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=234771
219            613            35,73%         120694         xhomerx10                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=120694
215            427            50,35%         579628         bob123                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=579628
207            585            35,38%         11425          gmaxwell                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=11425
206            816            25,25%         30747          Vod                                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=30747
206            448            45,98%         867786         HCP                                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=867786
200            697            28,69%         98986          TMAN                               https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=98986
195            709            27,50%         188198         Piggy                              https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=188198
179            487            36,76%         1560793        sncc                               https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1560793
172            471            36,52%         557989         BTCforJoe                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=557989
167            564            29,61%         569455         BobLawblaw                         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=569455
167            501            33,33%         181806         HairyMaclairy                      https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=181806
158            555            28,47%         1180530        theyoungmillionaire                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1180530
155            465            33,33%         1554927        bitmover                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1554927
150            420            35,71%         1424178        mole0815                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1424178
148            404            36,63%         881377         Hhampuz                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=881377
147            733            20,05%         290195         achow101                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=290195
142            447            31,77%         49008          jojo69                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=49008
138            424            32,55%         143168         TheQuin                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=143168
134            443            30,25%         41175          infofront                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=41175
128            758            16,89%         520313         Lutpin                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=520313
124            425            29,18%         252510         JayJuanGee                         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=252510
123            416            29,57%         1339716        coinlocket$                        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1339716
118            402            29,35%         163318         Torque                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=163318
110            641            17,16%         101872         Lauda                              https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=101872
101            579            17,44%         1000199        krogothmanhattan                   https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1000199
90             422            21,33%         18321          OgNasty                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=18321
77             442            17,42%         507936         DarkStar_                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=507936
68             1263           05,38%         3              satoshi                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3
63             395            15,95%         64205          Carlton Banks                      https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=64205
45             447            10,07%         1878246        abhiseshakana                      https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1878246
39             614            06,35%         1275282        joniboini                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1275282
36             465            07,74%         24140          qwk                                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24140
14             426            03,29%         369212         zazarb                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=369212
1              396            00,25%         1071136        PHI1618                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1071136
1              478            00,21%         1076869        pitipawn                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1076869
0              400            00,00%         1090672        Smart man                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1090672

[LoyceV]

And here I was trying to ease of the stats....

Why? You're good at it!

The Top 50 Receivers have received  26,38% of their sMerits on average from within the top 50 Receivers. That means 73,63% goes comes from outside of the top 50. Good enough for me ..

My adjustment in red. Is this what you meant? And if so, can you do the same for the Top 50 Senders?

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

Got a bit bored at seeing some comments and thought I could use the time otherwise…
Thanks for the correction; can’t be working, and cooking and scraping and doing stats all at the same time…

[cryptohunter]

And here I was trying to ease of the stats....

The Top 50 Receivers have received  26,38% of their sMerits on average from within the top 50 Receivers. That means 73,63% comes from of the top 50. Good enough for me ..

nMeritTop50:             Merit Received from top 50 Receivers .
nMeritReceivedTotal:  Total Merit Received.      

Code:

nMeritTop50    nMeritReceivedTotal    %         user_id        name                               url
490            1172           41,81%         1582324        DdmrDdmr                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1582324
393            1203           32,67%         459836         LoyceV                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=459836
387            1044           37,07%         397737         hilariousetc                       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=397737
338            779            43,39%         897509         xtraelv                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=897509
307            991            30,98%         479624         Last of the V8s                    https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=479624
302            817            36,96%         1067333        micgoossens                        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1067333
299            869            34,41%         487418         The Pharmacist                     https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=487418
297            2878           10,32%         35             theymos                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=35
273            776            35,18%         698159         Jet Cash                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=698159
250            643            38,88%         1188543        o_e_l_e_o                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1188543
247            602            41,03%         1291828        iasenko                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1291828
243            507            47,93%         787736         marlboroza                         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=787736
240            764            31,41%         976210         nullius                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=976210
230            900            25,56%         234771         suchmoon                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=234771
219            613            35,73%         120694         xhomerx10                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=120694
215            427            50,35%         579628         bob123                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=579628
207            585            35,38%         11425          gmaxwell                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=11425
206            816            25,25%         30747          Vod                                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=30747
206            448            45,98%         867786         HCP                                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=867786
200            697            28,69%         98986          TMAN                               https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=98986
195            709            27,50%         188198         Piggy                              https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=188198
179            487            36,76%         1560793        sncc                               https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1560793
172            471            36,52%         557989         BTCforJoe                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=557989
167            564            29,61%         569455         BobLawblaw                         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=569455
167            501            33,33%         181806         HairyMaclairy                      https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=181806
158            555            28,47%         1180530        theyoungmillionaire                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1180530
155            465            33,33%         1554927        bitmover                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1554927
150            420            35,71%         1424178        mole0815                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1424178
148            404            36,63%         881377         Hhampuz                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=881377
147            733            20,05%         290195         achow101                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=290195
142            447            31,77%         49008          jojo69                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=49008
138            424            32,55%         143168         TheQuin                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=143168
134            443            30,25%         41175          infofront                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=41175
128            758            16,89%         520313         Lutpin                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=520313
124            425            29,18%         252510         JayJuanGee                         https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=252510
123            416            29,57%         1339716        coinlocket$                        https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1339716
118            402            29,35%         163318         Torque                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=163318
110            641            17,16%         101872         Lauda                              https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=101872
101            579            17,44%         1000199        krogothmanhattan                   https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1000199
90             422            21,33%         18321          OgNasty                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=18321
77             442            17,42%         507936         DarkStar_                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=507936
68             1263           05,38%         3              satoshi                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3
63             395            15,95%         64205          Carlton Banks                      https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=64205
45             447            10,07%         1878246        abhiseshakana                      https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1878246
39             614            06,35%         1275282        joniboini                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1275282
36             465            07,74%         24140          qwk                                https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=24140
14             426            03,29%         369212         zazarb                             https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=369212
1              396            00,25%         1071136        PHI1618                            https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1071136
1              478            00,21%         1076869        pitipawn                           https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1076869
0              400            00,00%         1090672        Smart man                          https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1090672

Thank you for that. Very helpful.

So we are saying a 26% of smerits  to the top 50 come from the top 50.  So they are sending roughly 3/4 to those outside of the top 50.

That does not even seem a little high for a board with apparently 2M members?


Would it be possible for you to do that for the top 10 , top 20 and top 100 at all?

That would be very go to know. I am dreadful at math and stats. Just one of those things. I remember at school getting out from a calculus lecture and a looking up where the social science block was.


Edit - - hold on i notice a change to something.

so the top 50 are receiving roughly 75% of their merits from out side of the top 50 ?

Is this the same as saying the top 50 merit holders send approx 25% of their total merits to the other top 50 merit holders.

If that is the case that is not great on a board of apparently 2m users? but still I had suspected it could be even higher.

So to just be clear  can someone fill in the X


top 50 merit holders send x % of their merits to top 50 merit holders.

top 20 merit holder send x % of their merits to top 20 merit holders.

top 10 merit holder send x % of their merits to top 10 merit holders.

top 100 merit holder send x % of their merits to top 100 merit holders.

that would be great.

[suchmoon]

What no offer of help?

You could get some additional merit for such a useful tool.

Why would I need more merits?

My time is better spent sending merits, not receiving them.

These are quite interesting and confirm that meta although generally receiving 10x less traffic than the alt discussion board (where most new people are posting) still gets nearly 13x more merit activity.  So that is quite alarming if you are going on a post to probability of merit ratio alone. 130x more likely to get merit for a post in meta- - Is that even vaguely correct?? Math is not my best thing actually so no shame in asking for assistance and confirmation.

There is no surprise that good posters and otherwise valuable members also tend to care about forum issues and comment on them in Meta.

Even bitcoins main forum that is far more moderated to raise the level of post quality.. is at 10x more posts and 2x less merit. So the ration there is better than the alt board but king of the hill by far and where you want be posting is meta, and you want to be in the top 50.

And that's the wrong conclusion. Shitty posters in Meta get laughed at and their posting histories get looked into and they often end up worse (neg trust, plagiarism reports, etc). You got the correlation/causation thing wrong. Posting in Meta doesn't mean you'll get merits. Making good posts in Meta or elsewhere may increase your chances of getting merit. Making shitty posts may decrease your chances of getting merit.

[qwk]

So we are saying a 26% of smerits  to the top 50 come from the top 50.  So they are sending roughly 3/4 to those outside of the top 50.

That does not even seem a little high for a board with apparently 2M members?

Hm, let me consider this. No. Not at all.

Apparently, it looks like favoritism / nepotism of some kind at first glance.
But keep in mind: a large share of freely available merit comes from merit sources.
Merit sources are (if not by definition) people who usually also receive a decent amount of merit.
Why? Because that's how you become a merit source in the first place.
To become a merit source, you'll have to have a history of actually giving away merit.
To have such a history, you'll have to have merit in the first place.
How do you get that merit? By making meaningful, quality posts that are rewarded with merit.

In simpler terms:
1. write good posts
2. receive merit
3. give away merit
4. theymos sees "hey, he / she's giving away merit"
5. you'll become a merit source

That's why, in the end, many merit sources are also good posters (not all, though).

[cryptohunter]

Hold on a bit for the discussion of the stats.

I just want to confirm and fill in the X's for the top 10, 20, 50, 100.

Then we can all just take a closer look make more informed comments.

@ qwk  - thanks for reply... let me just see those x's filled in then I will certainly be down for a discussion of we think those are showing us.

It will be of great interest to hear everyone input and for a sensible and adult discussion to take place.

@ suchmoon these are certainly important points to further analyse and discuss.

[LoyceV]

Is this the same as saying the top 50 merit holders send approx 25% of their total merits to the other top 50 merit holders.

If that is the case that is not great on a board of apparently 2m users?

I used random.org to generate 10 random numbers between 1 and 2 million:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1887762
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1557917
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1080411
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1197833
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=429335
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=967934
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1103723
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1378511
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1260633
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1739694
Now check their post history and see if anything is worth meriting. Repeat this until you're convinced 99% of the accounts doesn't deserve any Merit

[qwk]

Repeat this until you're convinced 99% of the accounts doesn't deserve any Merit

Why bother with such a complicated approach?
Check the first 100 posts on
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;patrol
and you will see

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Well the first thing to point out is that this forum is not a decentralised project. It has a standard hierarchy of officials and members.

Indeed, and I think a lot of newcomers to crypto latch onto this "decentralized" word as some sort of holy grail to be achieved in every one of the world's problems/systems/structures, and it's just not feasible.  To give an example, the prison system in my state used to operate pharmacies at each prison and jail and did this for years...until they figured out that it is much more cost-effective to have all the medications get dispensed out of a centralized location.  That cut down on the staffing needed and improved communications.  Almost the same situation happened with long-term care pharmacy, i.e., nursing homes and other residential care facilities.  Sure, they all have Pyxis machines on premises, but all the scheduled meds come from pharmacies that resemble warehouses, with orders getting faxed in, technicians packacking meds up into blister packs, and pharmacists making IVs and checking the prescriptions before they go out the door.

Bitcoin is decentralized, and it's a unique concept for a currency.  Bitcointalk is not decentralized, and it's not a unique discussion forum. 

A lot of the top merit-givers happen to be older members, and many of them are also very good contributors and receive a lot of merits themselves.  That isn't surprising to me, but I get the feeling (well, actually he outright stated it) that OP thinks there's a "good 'ol boys" club of members passing merits between themselves for some undefined yet nefarious purpose.

OP, if you want to take a minute and look at the members I've given merit to, you'll definitely see a lot of recognized accounts, some of them merit sources, some of them on DT, but there are a lot of members below Hero rank that I've given merits to as well.  In my case, I actually try to avoid giving merits to Legendary accounts or Hero members who already have enough merits to rank up to Legendary and are just waiting to get enough activity.  Sometimes I can't help myself, sure, because there are a few Legendary members who make excellent posts that I feel compelled to merit, but overall I'm at least trying to target lower ranked members for merit.

Some users roll that way, i mean, if you become a friend of merit sources that resumes in more chance to get merits. But the merit sources are working hard to make a fair distribution of merits, or at least is that way in the Spanish section with our great merit source JetCash. This guy is making weekly merits giveaways to give the chance to all users to get merits

Jet Cash is exceptionally generous and has that type A personality that makes him want to be a doer, and he's doing a great job being a merit source and trying to help the forum in general. 

There may be members who only trade merits back and forth between their buddies, but I don't think that's the norm for merit sources.  The sad fact is that it is extremely difficult to find posts made by lower-ranking members (especially Newbie & Jr. Member ranks) that would fit the criteria of being "just good".  There are so many members of those two ranks nowadays that certain sections are flooded with posts by them, and they all tend to be generic, uninteresting, usually poorly-written, and sometimes even plagiarized.  I'm sure a lot of merit sources have a hard time sustaining the motivation to keep searching for worthy, lower-ranked members to give merits to.

I have Jet Cash's "Snow Eagles" site bookmarked, but so far there are only a few members on there, and the site needs some serious improvement before it becomes useful.  I'm speaking for myself only here, but I'm more than happy to reward a Newbie, Jr. Member, or any rank below Hero with merits IF the post deserves it and IF I can find the post.  I have fairly high standards, but not impossibly high.

[S_Therapist]

From the analysis "Top 30 Merit givers per board - Interactive Tool to spot possible Merit Sources", you can easily find out data of top 30 list of the most merited board, who gave most merit on which board. I think this one may assist you.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>I just want to confirm and fill in the X's for the top 10, 20, 50, 100.<...>

This should be it for the day ...:

Top   10 ->  9,57% received merit from Top 10.
Top   20 -> 17,80% received merit from Top 20.
Top   50 -> 26,38% received merit from Top 50.
Top 100 -> 32,69% received merit from Top 100.

There are currently 24.234 forum members that have received >= 1 sMerit, so the 100% will be reached on the top 24.234.

Also, we should forget the 2 million user mith. In practice, there are many less even posting and therefore postulating for merit on the whole (see The real activity of bitcointalk.org + full stats). Only 137K have made a post over the last three months for example, as seen on the referenced thread.

[seoincorporation]

I see where is cryptohunter going.

Let's make this dynamic, from the next 3 users how many merits send between them:

LoyceV
DdmrDdmr
The Pharmacist

LoyceV > DdmrDdmr = ?
LoyceV > The Pharmacist = ?
DdmrDdmr > LoyceV = ?
DdmrDdmr > The Pharmacist = ?
The Pharmacist > LoyceV = ?
The Pharmacist > DdmrDdmr = ?

[TheBeardedBaby]

This should be not so surprising as if you dug a bit more into Meta you will find that part of the merit sources cannot find posts to give their merit to.
Which makes the whole situation even more complicated. Theymos wrote some time ago that it's better for the sources to unload all the source merit instead of let it "burn" with the time.  It's not really burning but if you don't use it , it doesn't replenish.
So instead of wasting the generated smerit just pass it so it generates more, but sure it's not easy to find someone new to give meirt to.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

As of last Friday (last Merit Dashboard update):

LoyceV > DdmrDdmr = 45
LoyceV > The Pharmacist = 13
DdmrDdmr > LoyceV = 15
DdmrDdmr > The Pharmacist = 9
The Pharmacist > LoyceV = 4
The Pharmacist > DdmrDdmr = 5.

But that doesn't really show nothing much in general in my opinion on a one to one basis. What's more, all three coincide posting in some sections, and all bring decent stuff (dare I say) to the table, so reciprocal merit overtime is natural and is not a deep issue as I stated here: Is it true that we only send sMerit to our “buddies” ?.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

I also understand OP worries.

However, I’m afraid the opposite can be happening up to a point. I haven’t been sending merits to Legendaries and I’ve seen many people commenting along the same lines, not only on that thread but on other threads on the forum.

I think what happens actually is that most forum members tend to lower their standards when they send merits to lower ranks. If among all the shitposters, they find a newbie who writes a good post, they tend to merit him. And I’m talking about a “just” good post, not a very good or exceptional one. They probably wouldn’t give merit for that same post if it was written by a Legendary. It is a way of stimulating lower ranks to be positively productive instead of shitposting.

For me, it is not surprising that the top posters send and receive merit from the other top posters. I wrote that post because I found that if I didn’t save merits for lower ranks, I was sending them to the high ranks and when I saw a newbie worth meriting I was out of merits.

P.S: I recently decided to send merits also to Legendaries because I get merit more easily now, so I have more merits to send, but I’m still biased towards lower ranks.

[mainconcept]

...
Let's make this dynamic, from the next 3 users how many merits send between them:
...

You can check this with the SQL Merit Explorer made by Piggy yourself if you want.

The queries I used (Bitcointalk/Cloudflare don't like SQL Scripts in posts): https://gist.github.com/mainconceptx/3d843db920308cf09669e3e8961d8cd7
Just copy/paste it.

Result:

Code:

FromUser	ToUser	Merit
The Pharmacist	LoyceV	4

FromUser	ToUser	Merit
LoyceV	The Pharmacist	14

FromUser	ToUser	Merit
DdmrDdmr	LoyceV	15

FromUser	ToUser	Merit
LoyceV	DdmrDdmr	45

FromUser	ToUser	Merit
The Pharmacist	DdmrDdmr	5

FromUser	ToUser	Merit
DdmrDdmr	The Pharmacist	9

[seoincorporation]

<...>

As of last Friday (last Merit Dashboard update):

LoyceV > DdmrDdmr = 45
LoyceV > The Pharmacist = 13
DdmrDdmr > LoyceV = 15
DdmrDdmr > The Pharmacist = 9
The Pharmacist > LoyceV = 4
The Pharmacist > DdmrDdmr = 5.

But that doesn't really show nothing much in general in my opinion on a one to one basis. What's more, all three coincide posting in some sections, and all bring decent stuff (dare I say) to the table, so reciprocal merit overtime is natural and is not a deep issue as I stated here: Is it true that we only send sMerit to our “buddies” ?.

This is the right information to drop the conspiracy theories... It only proves how the main merit senders don't send merits to their friends' circle. Thanks for the info DdmrDdmr  so, cryptohunter now you can be sure merits are used in the right way.

[OgNasty]

Merit is easily abused by those with multiple accounts. As such, there will be bad actors with artificially inflated scores. Anyone who watched the first couple of days of merit distributions witnessed that very obviously. That’s why you should take merit with a grain of salt. Some of the most disrespectful and useless members of this forum have been near the top of the merit list. However, it’s also a fun way to reward strangers for thoughtful posts, so it’s a worthy trade-off in my opinion.