I wouldn't worry about occasionally/accidentally meriting what later turns out to be a plagiarized or otherwise unworthy post.
Yeah, though I would suggest that anyone--not just merit sources--check to see if a post is plagiarized before meriting it, especially if it's being made by a newbie and looks like it was written in a "professional" style. That might sound like prejudice against newbies...and that's because it is. It's unfortunate, but the vast majority of lower-ranked accounts are non-English speakers trying to write stuff in English in order to get paid for bounties, and there have been so many examples of them resorting to plagiarism that it's almost the norm at this point.
Avoid sending merits to friends just because they asked. It's fine if it's an otherwise merit-worthy post but the fact of asking should invoke some healthy skepticism.
Agree, and this is the reason why I don't send merits exclusively to you and most of the members of DT1. Even though the best posts tend to come from that list of members, I don't want my merit-giving behavior to give even the appearance of being a political thing.
The thing is, merit sources are under more scrutiny than the average bitcointalk member, and you definitely don't want to hand out merits to friends, alts, or for any reason other than rewarding a good post. Oh, and I'm not sure why Cryptopreneurbrainboss can't be a merit source along with TK808. I think the altcoin sections need multiple merit sources out on patrol.
Yeah, I'm pretty adamant and aware about puppets (i can spot them pretty easily) and increasingly those who attempt to manipulate the system (plagiarism, merit sharing and etc) for account farming/bounties (essentially, nurturing an account to gain more weight).
Secondly, yeah i was hesitant on giving him merit to begin with; really a one-off event. The vast majority of my merit went to real credible users (feel free to dig through the history, I'm sure many have already). Giving merit to friends and interests, ie boosting their status, is something I obviously won't do, the last thing I want is negative trust on my BTT profile for betraying everyone's trust in me.
To Theymos: I know you're watching and waiting to see the community members dig into all these candidates who want msource status, I'm pretty sure you'll be considering this application specifically, but as many stated there is little risk in promoting merit sources since they are in the public view and will be scrutinized. Promoting individuals like Cryptopreneurbrainboss is something i do recommend, there's no way one person can significantly affect the outcome of these sections that are larger and much more difficult to navigate than the Bitcoin sections.
