Beginners & Help – sMerit Distribution Summary

[DdmrDdmr]

Edit: Updated data as of 28/08/2020.

I've update the OP (after many months of not doing so), keeping a log of the changes:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200831122541/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111933.msg49822661
https://web.archive.org/web/20200214090903/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111933.msg49822661
https://web.archive.org/web/20190425164354/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111933.0

I thought it would be interesting to share some information related to how sMerit is distributed in the Beginners & Help board. It’s something I’ve done for other boards, and most of my findings I’ve either posted them on Meta or on my local board. Since Beginners & Help is a cornerstone in building this community, it seems fit to contextualize a relevant feature such as sMerit to this board.

a) Merit Distribution per month:


https://public.tableau.com/shared/95SF4FTDW?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link

The above shows the number of sMerits distributed here per month. 2019 followed a clear upward trend, and 2020 started-off with an ATH, never matched again.


b) TX distribution since 2020:


https://public.tableau.com/shared/6PN93P4MH?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link

Delimiting data now to just 2020, the image above shows us that 75,56% of sMerit awarding in the Beginners & Help board is done in transactions of 1 sMerit, and an additional 16,53% in transactions involving 2 sMerits.
In addition, 58,38% of the posts that do get merited are so by a single awarding transaction (1 person). An additional 18,27% of merited posts in the Beginners & Help are merited by 2 transactions (normally 2 people), and 6,91% of merited posts are merited by 3 transactions (normally 3 people).


c) Top Merit Senders, Receivers and threads 2020:


https://public.tableau.com/shared/GRBDD386H?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link

The above image, also delimited to 2020, shows a few interesting facts:

-   Meriter User Ranking show which forum members have awarded most sMerits on this board lately.
-   Merited User Ranking show which forum members have received most sMerits on this board recently (note that quite a few of the names correspond to mid to high level ranks which participate actively on the board).


d) Top Merited Posts & threads 2020:


https://public.tableau.com/shared/766GDXWY4?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link

-   Top Merited Thread Ranking shows the threads that have received most sMerit (aggregate of sMerit on all component posts, but delimited to 2020 sMerits). It shows the number of sMerits received by the posts in the thread (Merit column), the number of distinct people that have sent sMerit to that thread (nFromUsers column) and the number of distinct people that have received sMerit in the thread (nToUsers column).

All in all, the above should be helpful in understanding a bit more how the Merit System applies on the Beginners & Help board.

Information source: Merit Dashboard

[bitmover]

Nice analysis ddmr.
Beginners and help board is one of my favorites.

It's a board where even not bitcoin directly related topics are welcome, and everyone is free to post or ask different kinds of informations.

Certainly a place where new users can learn.

Merits have never been easier to earn on the Beginners & Help board, with nearly double amount of what was awarded during most months in 2018, and the fact that there are many less people active on the forum in general.

I really noticed this too. We have less topics  and more circulating merits.

[1miau]

As usual: great analysis.

I agree with bitmover, I like the Beginners and Help board very much, too. Over the last few months the quality increased a lot and that's a good thing for everyone who's searching for answers to his questions or to discover more interesting information about crypto.
Some Newbies may just come here and ask a single question in Beginners and Help but when they see there is some more interesting information around and other users willing to help them and share knowledge, the Newbies will possibly not ask only one question, they will stay here and visit the forum more frequently. Maybe they'll become a valuable Member of Bitcointalk.

And I'm sure it's also helping Bitcoin itself to have an open community to welcome Newbies. They will start researching more things and understand the advantages to have a strong Bitcoin and recommend BTC to other people. Something like that we can boost the number of people owning it what makes Bitcoin more decentralized.

Finally, the overall impression and reputation of Bitcointalk in the crypto space can be improved. If Bitcointalk has besides its historical posts of the early days a source of knowledge (especially for Newbies) it will be a place visited quite frequently.

And rewarding Merit for quality posts in Beginners and Help is always something beneficial to ensure a constant (or increasing) incoming of quality content here.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

If I understood clearing from the meriter and merited ranking statistics it means I have received 51merit lately from board and sent 34 smerits right? If that's correct that means I'm even doing much better then I taught in times of sending smerits.

I enjoy posting and reading topics on this board that's why it's one of my most active boards. I feel the users mostly using this board are those in seek of knowledge or helping others out. The board is so innocent and haven't yet been corrupt.

Thanks DdmrDdmr for such a great analysis at least we're doing a great job on the board, hope it remains like this for a very long time.

[cabalism13]

The sleeping pussy(cat) is now awake, this will give LoyceV some chills after leaving you behind for a quite while it nice to see you again here, and also Loyce is (I think) waiting for you to be active again

The battle between AIs will now emerge


Statistics from a clean and gentle work as always. Hoping to get some more, might be use it in one of these coming days.

[DdmrDdmr]

@bitmover, @1miau:
Yes, I think this is rather a fundamental board to help the forum grow, at least in terms of people who really want to get involved in crypto and not just bounties. People posting on this board are often treaded in a gentler manner than on other boards, which should be a treat.

@CryptopreneurBrainboss: Your interpretation is correct. You can see your personal stats with a broader view on the Merit Dashboard. Simply go to the first tab (Personal Summary), replace 'Theymos' for 'CryptopreneurBrainboss', press enter, and your good to go (impressive January stats you’ve got there by the way).

@Cabalism13: Can’t really be on a perpetual race, which is pretty pointless above the 1K in my case, and time consuming (which I now lack more than before)…

[JetAid]

As Jet Cash, I do try to help posters on the beginners board, as I agree that it is an important place for new members to learn about Bitcoin, and to slide into the Bitcoin Talk community. It does look as if I'm not contributing enough through posting. Entering into discussions with new members is possibly even more important that the awarding of merits in my opinion. I'm a bit ambivalent about all the stats related to board activity, but this one does seem to be useful in encouraging members to support newer members.

[Ispep]

New members should be encouraged to stay more often in the beginners and help board as it will help them grow their knowledge of the forum,about bitcoin and alts etc,almost every discussion is allowed in here,even introductory messages.
I also appreciate senior members,most especially jetcash and ddmr ddmr who frequent this board and are always trying in one way or the other to encourage and help newbies either through posts, replies and merits.
The entire development of the forum begins here

[DdmrDdmr]

I’ve updated the OP to reflect the most recent data, after letting a couple of months go by. The Beginners and Help board is still looking healthier in terms of sMerit than during 2018, and the visits to this board from heavyweight Merit Sources is one of the key factors in this improvement of the B&H stats.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Thanks for the update and great analysis as usual, hope this isn't too much to ask but can you update a ratio between merited topic and replies. Just want to get an ideal of how many merits have been awarded to topics and replies. I appreciate the fact more merit sources are visiting the board off recent but I think they're concentrating too much on topics resulting to member creating similar topic already been discussed just to attract the merit. e.g "just on safe guiding your email" , a little surf through the pages on the board and you will find multiple thread saying or almost saying the say thing. Maybe if the meriters give more attentions to reply it won't create desperation as we're experiencing and will increase more quality discussion not just topics.

[Sharon121212]

One big request I have for the OP is pls can you lecture me in how you do all this great analysis
I have really been a big admire of the distribution summary including those posted on meta and it has really simplified the very complicated smerit distributions

[jademaxsuy]

This guy here is statitically inclined I do not know where did he get this knowledge from but I bet the expertise he/she shared is related to the job he has now. If he/she is being employed for possibly he/she could be an employer too.

I admire the efforts on presenting data and analyzing facts regarding with merits. However, I am.not fan now on reading merits analysis. I have been already admitted to myself that earning merits is difficult to.achieve especially if you have no friends here and you are not being friendly. LOL!

[DdmrDdmr]

Thanks for the update and great analysis as usual, hope this isn't too much to ask but can you update a ratio between merited topic and replies. Just want to get an ideal of how many merits have been awarded to topics and replies.

I took a look at this nearly a year ago in one of the toughest analysis I’ve done here (basically due to not mastering the scrapper). Data is therefore old and may very well have varied. In Forum Merited Messages- Does size count?, section 4 states that 15% of OPs back then were merited (therefore 85% of merited posts were answers). Of course that is an overall view, and we do have massive threads like WO that get many merits on answers.

A general idea (not exact) of the current ratio can be retrieved by comparing merited posts that start with “re:” (answers) versus those that don’t (OPs). Deleted posts are excluded from this classification for obvious reasons.  Although I do have some issues on the scraper with post titles, the numbers bake-up to these roughly:
Overall:

Code:

Type      nTxs      nPosts    nMerits   %TXs      % Merits
OP        36261     17484     69414     21,18%    20,01%
Answer    134976    28509     277398    78,82%    79,99%
Total     171237    45993     346812    100,00%   100,00%

Beginners & Help:

Code:

Type      nTxs      nPosts    nMerits   %TXs      % Merits
OP        2131      1010      3477      43,44%    40,95%
Answer    2775      808       5014      56,56%    59,05%
Total     4906      1818      8491      100,00%   100,00%

The above gives us a general idea of what you were asking about.

I appreciate the fact more merit sources are visiting the board off recent but I think they're concentrating too much on topics resulting to member creating similar topic already been discussed just to attract the merit. e.g "just on safe guiding your email" , a little surf through the pages on the board and you will find multiple thread saying or almost saying the say thing. Maybe if the meriters give more attentions to reply it won't create desperation as we're experiencing and will increase more quality discussion not just topics.

Yes, there are repetitive topics that strangely enough appear before the previous iteration has died down. Replies too are often rather repetitive, not just the topic itself. I try to look at all the thread, but I may not read all the replies if the thread is updated frequently (no time).

One big request I have for the OP is pls can you lecture me in how you do all this great analysis <…>

That really has to do with one’s background. The basic capabilities I would say that are implied are:
-   Having an analytical and detailed oriented mind.
-   Being decent at managing databases and exploring the data.
-   Massaging data into meaningful information and insights.
-   The statistical part is perhaps the least of all, since what I use is rather basic.
-   Dedicate time.

<…> I have been already admitted to myself that earning merits is difficult to.achieve especially if you have no friends here and you are not being friendly. LOL!

There’s a recent thread that may help here. It goes on about besties on the forum …. Who's your forum bestie? Make a guess and I'll prove you wrong. Probably.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

A general idea (not exact) of the current ratio can be retrieved by comparing merited posts that start with “re:” (answers) versus those that don’t (OPs).

Thanks for this, so basically we can conclude more merits are allocated to replies than post on the board. But merely reading through replies I don't notice that huge number of merit or might be because those allocated to OP can be easily sighted. I taught the difference will be very huge but to my surprise, replies are dominating OPs. I believe this statistics is from the very start of the merit system. Do you think the result of recent statistics will be any different like stats of 2019.

[Jet Cash]

A general idea (not exact) of the current ratio can be retrieved by comparing merited posts that start with “re:” (answers) versus those that don’t (OPs).

Just a quick note - as you can see, I sometimes use the subject to refer to the post, and not to the complete thread. I believe that this may help with topic searches through the search engines.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> I believe this statistics is from the very start of the merit system. Do you think the result of recent statistics will be any different like stats of 2019.

Here they are, limited to 2019 (up until 19/04/2019):

Overall:

Code:

Type      nTxs      nPosts    nMerits   %TXs      % Merits
OP        13545     5224      24739     33,64%    33,33%
Answer    26717     5479      49480     66,36%    66,67%
Total     40262     10703     74219     100,00%   100,00%

Beginners & Help:

Code:

Type      nTxs      nPosts    nMerits   %TXs      % Merits
OP        784       286       1382      45,98%    46,01%
Answer    921       238       1622      54,02%    53,99%
Total     1705      524       3004      100,00%   100,00%

There is a shift towards meriting OPs vs answers, which could mean that OP's are getting more elaborate overtime or Meriters finding it easier to Merit OPs than go through entire threads (or both/none of these hypothesis).

Merited OPs do stand-out more than the merited answers in general, so they do stick more to the eye. In addition, OPs hold the first post in the threads, and it’s one "against many" other posts on the thread. By that measure, the OP seems to win handsomely.

<…>

Yes, such cases will quantify wrongly with my quick procedure to perform the comparison above. The ideal way would be to download the merited post position within the thread, and use this as a group separator. Since I’m not downloading it (did in the past, but had some issues), the above is a rough approximation, but not 100% accurate.

[DdmrDdmr]

After many months, I’ve updated the OP to reflect the most recent data (as of 06/02/2020), changing the chart style for the first entry to obtain a clearer perspective.

The Beginners and Help board was way healthier in 2019 than 2018 in terms of sMerit, and the positive trend continues in 2020. The visits to this board from heavyweight Merit Sources is one of the key factors in this improvement of the B&H stats.

One obvious thing to point out is that many of those merits do go to known forum members that are active on this board, creating decent content, and not strictly to lower-ranked forum members. Nevertheless, the criteria for awarding merit to lower ranks is probably more relaxed here than in other boards.

[DdmrDdmr]

Over six month since my last update of the OP on this thread, so here’s an update. I’ve archived the prior version of the OP (referenced within the OP) to keep a record of the changes. On aggregate, monthly distribution lately pretty much mimics that of a year ago, meaning it’s pretty stable on this board in the big picture.

[erikoy]

Nevertheless, the criteria for awarding merit to lower ranks is probably more relaxed here than in other boards.

Yes, I agree. My opinion is that this section can have a broad topics to discuss with connecting all the forum sections to be a guide or as an introduction to other boards. Since it is wider low rank users could take advantage on this creating not even substantial posta but at least it ia helpful to the new comers.

This is one of the reason too that I always keep a visit in this section so that I can also share or impart knowledge in my own little ways. Participating actively in discussions is already a great contribution to the forum regardless of getting or not getting merit. The important thing is that aside from contributing at least I earn few cents from signature bounty. It is already a great help in expenses like buying prepaid load for using smartphones. Yeah one can laugh at it but at least I am true to myself.

Anyway, whatever reason we have and joining in this forum I do hope respect will always be on top of everything. I may not be a native English speaker but at least I tried.

[Smartvirus]

At first when I got involved in cryptocurrency, it seemed rather evident that, the Chinese had a lot or tried to participate more in cryptocurrency in contrast to other nations. In my little way to understand the first chat (merit distraction per month) as regards it's decline in 2020. I'll attribute this to the pandemic breakout. This is why?

Most persons became aware of cryptocurrency following the trending era of Ponzi schemes from early 2016 through 2017 and goes on. This resulted in increased awareness of Bitcoin which reflected an increase in participation.
In 2019, a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiast trooped in to explore the growing field thereby increasing activities and participation which explains it's up trend as seen in the chat before forming it's highest high (if I may, borrow that term from forex) in January 2020 following the discovery of the pandemic.
This resulted in the decline of activities and participation as people where restricted from going about their daily activities with the stay at home policy. No doubt participation is not place limited but, the resources are. This is what is reflected in the months that follow through, showing the gradual decrease of merit distribution with regards to participation.
But then, it also created a chance for people to explore other fields of investment not excluding Bitcoin and cryptocurrency at large so, I speculate a rise when things normalize.
What do you think of my analysis