Attention Theymos: This is a sMerit holdup! Hands in the air!

[The Sceptical Chymist]

here are a few 27 to be exact.

Thank you kindly, philipma1957!!  To be clear, I'm not asking for merits from the community, though obviously I can't stop anyone from giving me any and I appreciate the support.  

Instead of waiting, make a list with those who deserve smerit and let us know,  I'm sure there are people willing to help. I managed to collect some smerit as well and I can give a hand,  just send me the links

I don't have a list of posts; I have a waiting list of post histories that I need to review, per my long-standing offer to the community and the recent thread I created about it.  But I definitely appreciate your offer of help and I'd link to specific posts if I had any.

(It's in the fine print - (as agreed through consensus in the Mk III thread) - in a post that was last edited on the first of July, 2022)

You're not a merit source?

Oh crap--I admit I did not read the fine print in your thread, but on the other hand nobody has to comply with your rules for meriting posts, even if it's your own thread.  As far as I know, you can set rules for posting if it's a thread you created, but since you can't report a merit given against your rules (like you can with a post), it's kind of an absurd rule to begin with.

And to your point, I've given out merits in that thread based on effort and not necessarily accuracy.  Regardless of my feelings about your rule, I'll abide by it in the future.  It probably isn't the smartest thing to do, giving merits to a report if said report might be complete BS.  Got it.

And yes, I'm a merit source.

Merit dumping sounds lazy.

... So does trying to justify it ...

Well yeah, it is lazy.  That's why I took the time to explain my reasons for doing it (not lazy).  If I scan the last month of a member's post history and it's obvious I'm going to be giving out the entire 50 merit limit, why bother going through all the trouble meriting posts individually?  If you offer a service to the community like this, feel free to conduct it how you see fit.  Otherwise, if you have a problem with the way I do things, bring it up with Theymos.

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[Timelord2o67]

.  Otherwise, if you have a problem with the way I do things, bring it up with Theymos.

Hi and thank you for your responses. I appreciate your feedback and your understanding that meriting a post that might turn out to be inaccurate isn't a good idea.

I don't have an issue with your merits which is why I came to you for clarity on why just one users' work was chosen for merits (and to remind you of our commitment to excellence and accuracy).

Let's move on.

[suchmoon]

Investigators who merit other Investigators research are giving Campaign Managers [...] an assurance

That's not what the merit system is for, and you have no options for enforcing this anyway.

If users want to confirm (or deny) what's been posted they can make a post.

why bother going through all the trouble meriting posts individually?

Because (IMO) that's what the merit system is for - to merit good posts, not just to give bags of merits to users.

For example if I want to read best recent posts and go here...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topreplies

... large merit dumps skew this picture. That's not to say I haven't done that, and you're right that it is really the merit sender's discretion how they choose to do it, but I need to point out that "going through all the trouble" does have value.

[a1 Hashrate LLC2022]

Investigators who merit other Investigators research are giving Campaign Managers [...] an assurance

That's not what the merit system is for, and you have no options for enforcing this anyway.

If users want to confirm (or deny) what's been posted they can make a post.

why bother going through all the trouble meriting posts individually?

Because (IMO) that's what the merit system is for - to merit good posts, not just to give bags of merits to users.

For example if I want to read best recent posts and go here...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topreplies

... large merit dumps skew this picture. That's not to say I haven't done that, and you're right that it is really the merit sender's discretion how they choose to do it, but I need to point out that "going through all the trouble" does have value.

my main account posts more than this one and I occasionally give a lump out with it.

Like I just gave 27 to the pharmacist.

But if you look at my philipma1957 account I would think I mostly do 1 or 2 merits to  posts.

[LoyceV]

Investigators who merit other Investigators research are giving Campaign Managers [...] an assurance

That's not what the merit system is for, and you have no options for enforcing this anyway.

He has an option to prevent posts from being Merited: his thread is self-moderated. If reports are inaccurate, he can simply delete them and nobody can Merit them anymore.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

He has an option to prevent posts from being Merited: his thread is self-moderated. If reports are inaccurate, he can simply delete them and nobody can Merit them anymore.

This is probably something I should know, but deleted posts don't invalidate any merits given to them, do they?  And I guess that's a way of enforcing the local rule, it's really not a viable option unless the report is eventually deemed inaccurate and Timelord2067 wants it scrubbed entirely.

Because (IMO) that's what the merit system is for - to merit good posts, not just to give bags of merits to users.

Point taken, suchmoon.  That's not to say I'm going to give up taking that particular shortcut, but I respect your views.

Let's move on.

Sounds good to me!

[LoyceV]

deleted posts don't invalidate any merits given to them, do they?

Correct.

[Agbe]

Hope that got your attention, Theymos. 

I respect that you made me a merit source even though I did not ask to be one.  I'm trying to give merits to the lower ranks (Newbie-Sr. Member), but I'm always falling short of sMerits.  Always.  And I've earned quite a few sMerits from my own posts, and those are all gone now too. 

I would absolutely love to give something like 5 merits to a great post, but as it stands I feel like I have to use my sMerits in an ungenerous, miserly, ass-squeaking, and niggardly way.  Can you please, please, please up the amount of sMerits I get?  If you take a look at my meriting history, you can see what I'm talking about.  I give them out in dribs and drabs and I'd like to be able to give them out more liberally. 

Got no idea how merit-givingly active I am in comparison to other merit sources, nor do I hear any other merit source complaining about their monthly source allotments, so I don't care if you increase any other merit source's monthly sMerit number.  I just want more so I can give out more.  I would respectfully ask you to consider my request, and I thank you in advance for doing so.

wow!!! what a liberal mindset in the forum. Your are a merit source, you finished your allocation of merits of the month within two to three weeks or below for the masses (lower ranks) and you still want to help more. If you become a politician, your ward, constituency, state and country will really be happy because we don't have such politician in the world. I have said it in one of my comment on your post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5410264.0 that you are a liberal and progressivist scholar. It is only those who are from the social science field would understand what I mean. This your request is very good and I also want to make a suggestion which other users has also made before. If Theymos has not responded to your request. Other merit sources can help you out by meriting the threads and the post you want to merit. I also believe a merit source told you to send the post you want to merit to him so he can also merit them. I was trying find out the comment but I could not again.

As it is, i know you are not happy for seen a good post and you don't have merit to give. I understand your feeling. I am also begging other merit sources to help our humble liberal merit source. Please permit me to address you THE LIBERAL MERIT SOURCE in my generation.

[PowerGlove]

[...] but as it stands I feel like I have to use my sMerits in an ungenerous, miserly, ass-squeaking, and niggardly way.

Wow, that nearly made me spit my coffee out

You have a way with words! If anyone else has never run into "niggardly" before, it's an easy-to-misunderstand adjective that means "grudgingly mean about spending or granting" according to Merriam-Webster.

[...] So Theymos, I humbly ask you to either give me a one-time injection of sMerits or to increase my monthly allowance.

I really appreciate The Pharmacist's generosity and hope that his sMerit allocation is increased (or at least temporarily boosted, given the situation).

[...] To be clear, I'm not asking for merits from the community, though obviously I can't stop anyone from giving me any and I appreciate the support. 

I sent 30 merit your way (to the bump post), I hope it helps!

[The Sceptical Chymist]

wow!!! what a liberal mindset in the forum.

I have said it in one of my comment on your post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5410264.0 that you are a liberal and progressivist scholar.

Please permit me to address you THE LIBERAL MERIT SOURCE in my generation.

Good lord, you don't know me or my history on this forum very well, do you?  I'm neither liberal nor progressive (these days I'm not even sure what those terms mean, but I think I have an idea), though I try my damned-est to live and let live.  I'm not sure what any of my political views have to do with handing out merits anyway.  

Do you know why I want more merits to give away?  It's so the merit system keeps functioning, which keeps members from wandering into areas of the forum where they have nothing to say, hoping they'll earn some.  So you could almost say I do it in a segregationist spirit (though with none of the mean-spiritedness of what that term usually brings to mind).  If you don't believe me, just take a look at Reputation and Meta in 2017 right up until Jan. 2018 when the merit system was started.  There were a lot of pissed off people complaining about what I just described, me among them.  

So please, do not call me the liberal merit source.  It smacks of ass-kissing anyway.

If Theymos has not responded to your request. Other merit sources can help you out by meriting the threads and the post you want to merit. I also believe a merit source told you to send the post you want to merit to him so he can also merit them. I was trying find out the comment but I could not again.

Yeah, I know the post you're referring to and what my response was to it.

So here we are, a week or so later and I guess Theymos isn't listening to my pleas for more sMerits.  They sure would come in handy, because I've got more requests than I was able to handle with everything I had.  If I had maybe 100-150 more sMerits I might be able to catch up within a day or so--but that is NOT a request for anyone to merit my post(s).  I don't want merits from anyone except Theymos, if he hears my cries and has mercy on my blackened and damned soul.

You have a way with words! If anyone else has never run into "niggardly" before, it's an easy-to-misunderstand adjective that means "grudgingly mean about spending or granting" according to Merriam-Webster.

Damn, don't waste good coffee spitting it up because of my purple prose.  And that's why I used the word; it was appropriate, perhaps a bit amusing, and maybe even a vocab-builder for a few folks.

I sent 30 merit your way (to the bump post), I hope it helps!

Thanks, I appreciate it.  I wrote the above before reading your post--not that I could have prevented you from meriting any of my posts in any case.  I just gave a few members some merits, so your contribution did help.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

A'ight, it's been two weeks since I bumped this thread with an earnest appeal for more sMerits in order to help out the community and I've been met with SWEET FUCK ALL of a response from Theymos, except for the resounding silence which in itself is actually a very loud statement.

I'm not sure what the implications of the statement are, but I'm hoping he still gives a shit about the merit system, which is the only fucking tool the community has to suppress shitposters, account farmers, and to improve the quality of bitcointalk--and it's a blunt tool at that.

Theymos:  You made me a merit source; I did not apply to be one.  I'm trying to help members rank up and in general I'm trying to do a good thing for the forum, that's it.  I don't want to be the most generous merit-giver or any of that shit.  If you really can't be bothered to even acknowledge my initial bump and all the posts between that and this one, what the fuck do you want out of all this?  How many merits do you want circulated?  Do I have way too many already?  What are your thoughts on maintaining the system?  All of these things and more would be nice to know, especially when you've got an unpaid army working to run the merit system.

You couldn't even give me maybe another 100 sMerits out of sheer gratitude for the 3 years I've been a merit source??

Jesus, dude.