The Beginner Guide to BitCoinTalk

[MasterCoinBit]

So you just joined the forum and have no idea what all those signature campaigns and ranks and merits are?
Well for new members all those stuff can be a bit confusing.
Read on to get an idea of what is going in this forum .

This guide mainly consists of linking various places to read and also explaining a bit about stuff and is in several parts.

First link you should read in most cases after joining the forum:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2766177.0

Merits:

What are they? What are they used to? What is it? Hang on, and stop thinking loud.

Merits are an unique system of a sort of BitCoinTalk currency that are used for both showing off how awesome you are, and as a requirement for the ranks.

There are limits to and some details about merits that are explained in the link that is on top of this post:

"There are two types of Merit. You cannot send your merits, just sMerit. For every Merit you receive you will have 0.5 spendable merit to reward posts as you see fit. "

"You can give a max of 50 merit to a user every 30 days."

User ranks:

So you you might now know what merits are and now are wondering about users classes.
There are various kinds of classes on the forum each having specific requirements. With each class you go up certain limitations on your account can be lifted and you can get new powers.

In the link below classes are explained in detail:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178608.0

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Now one thing to note about merits and user classes is that they can also be used as a means for seeing how legit a user is. Most members might trust a user that is on a lower class, less than a member that is on a higher class. Also upper classes can be trusted with to verify if something is legit or not so they might once in a while even be offered free stuff.

Activity:

It's a sort of stat you have which you gain based on how many posts you make in a certain period of time. It's explained in detail in the first link I posted.

Signature:

If you have been on forums before you should probably already know what they are. They are little spaces you have that show under every single post you make, that you can put some stuff in them. In this forum though this can get bit more complicated with signature campaigns. Also each user class can have certain limitations on their signature and by going to a higher user class you might be able to lift those.

Signature campaigns:

WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?

Signature campaigns are an unique feature of this forum. It's a sort of advertisement project in which users are paid for if they put their picture and their unique signature meant to advertise their content on their own account. Each signature campaign can have unique specifics, like they might pay you for each post you make and different user classes can have different payments. It's better to read about the specific signature campaign you are wanting to join, carefully before joining it. If your activity on the forum is high you can join and also get some money.
Due to this signature campaigns, there are various designers that you can pay to actually design signatures for you and the business for this type of thing can be sort of hot on this forum.
Also read the guidelines for signature campaigns before joining or starting any signature campaigns:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1684035.0

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Stuff like how to post should be pretty easy to figure out by yourself but in case you are looking for a place that explains the very basics, check out this link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=help
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If you think something should be added to this guide, feel free to suggest it in this thread, and here is the end of the guide.

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[TheBeardedBaby]

There are many guides like your already.
I made one a year ago, and i'm trying to keep it updated >
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.0

I'm not sure that we need one more... really.

[mk4]

There are many guides like your already.
I made one a year ago, and i'm trying to keep it updated >
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.0

I'm not sure that we need one more... really.

b..but.. muh merits?

@OP: if you're planning on creating a guide, at least attempt to beat the existing guides we have right now. There's no point of creating one that's a lot less helpful.

[TheBeardedBaby]

There are many guides like your already.
I made one a year ago, and i'm trying to keep it updated >
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.0

I'm not sure that we need one more... really.

b..but.. muh merits?

@OP: if you're planning on creating a guide, at least attempt to beat the existing guides we have right now. There's no point of creating one that's a lot less helpful.

This made me laugh like hell, really ...
...
@OP, ups, I gave it to the "wrong" guy, right? _/s

[MasterCoinBit]

There are many guides like your already.
I made one a year ago, and i'm trying to keep it updated >
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2534500.0

I'm not sure that we need one more... really.

Actually the forum mechanics be really confusing for a new member. Though there is nothing wrong with more threads. It gives variety of choice. Also I have not noticed your thread at the time of writing. Some are walls of texts, some are small threads. One might not want to read a wall of text with calculations to get a general idea on how to stuff works, one might want a detailed explanation. So as you see more threads aren't necessarily a bad thing.
And complaining when a user makes a guide might not really help either. It's like you are asking users to try to be less helpful.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

It does seem rather bold to create a Guide to Bitcointalk less than a week after signing-up, even more so for it to be considered a "Full Guide". This concept would require many more topics to be talked about in depth (i.e. trust, trade, rules, best practices, account security, reporting, etc.).

While you have yourself found information on some of the basics (which is more than many people do when they arrive here), creating a Full Guide to Bitcointalk should be built from experience on the forum, and that comes with the time spent here. Even today I'm still learning some of the insides to this forum ...

[TheBeardedBaby]

Actually the forum mechanics be really confusing for a new member. Though there is nothing wrong with more threads. It gives variety of choice. Also I have not noticed your thread at the time of writing. Some are walls of texts, some are small threads. One might not want to read a wall of text with calculations to get a general idea on how to stuff works, one might want a detailed explanation. So as you see more threads aren't necessarily a bad thing.
And complaining when a user makes a guide might not really help either. It's like you are asking users to try to be less helpful.

It's a free forum so everyone can do what they want. As long as you don't cross line of the rules, you are fine.
I'm just pointing out the facts here and giving my opinion. Do what you feel is good for the forum.
For me this was just a merit-hunt attempt.

[MasterCoinBit]

<…>

It does seem rather bold to create a Guide to Bitcointalk less than a week after signing-up, even more so for it to be considered a "Full Guide". This concept would require many more topics to be talked about in depth (i.e. trust, trade, rules, best practices, account security, reporting, etc.).

While you have yourself found information on some of the basics (which is more than many people do when they arrive here), creating a Full Guide to Bitcointalk should be built from experience on the forum, and that comes with the time spent here. Even today I'm still learning some of the insides to this forum ...

Well, perhaps you are right about that. I changed the topic name to a more fitting name.

[Jet Cash]

If you want to brush up on the Bitcoin Talk merit system. Here is my guide. It's written from the perspective of a merit source.

The Bitcoin Talk merit system

It's fairly old, so I will reread it to see if it needs to be updated.

[TheATBProject]

Thank you for the guide.
Since it was at the top, I would not have seen any others since I tend not to use the search feature unless by a google search and absolutely necessary.

[Theb]

~snip~

b..but.. muh merits?

@OP: if you're planning on creating a guide, at least attempt to beat the existing guides we have right now. There's no point of creating one that's a lot less helpful.

Lauda already edited his/her thread which you can find in this section and added a paragraph about the merit system, it is short but it has links to the main introduction topic and your merit page. This is just another newbie trying to create a long post/guide in order to make an effort to earn merits. He really made an effort about it but it is a sloppy work and unfortunately he failed to read on his own as he didn't realize that there are dozens of threads related to what he made out there.

[nrm4bits]

There are a lot of guides

I think most newbies can't even find them or don't try to find them

Would it be a good idea to pass a test before being able to create a thread or a post for newcomers?  

[manfredmann]

There are many guides here to the new comers and in fact it was being pinned on the top of threads and were also known as sticky threads. Try to read those threads for they were very useful and they were known to be legit among other thread that are posted such as other relevant forum guides.

[coinexplorer1]

When will we be out of the bear market?

[Hescaton]

Here I thought I was actually going to learn something.. luckily iasenko came to rescue and linked the real deal.

[Peacemaker1994]

The forum has it own beginners guide and would not need any personal guide from any member. You can only postulate your own idea not claiming it to be the guide I think you need to have a reality check

[Dreamace7]

Thanks for your efforts I must say it's completely appreciated by me. But it would have been more easier to post the links rather than making another tread of your own. It would appear as merit hunting although this is not against the rule