Staff Dabs abusing merit?

[ScamViruS]

Within 2 minutes, Dabs gave to MichaelX a total of 18 merits( Including 2 years old posts). I didn't think it was normal in anyway.
The posts that have been given merit, are those posts really deserve getting so much merit within 2 minutes ?
I just want to know is this really normal activity?

I got some information

Profile :-
Dabs

MichaelX

Merit history MichaelX

Merit post links

Wallets for phone include Bitcoin Wallet for Android and Electrum for Android.

For OTP generators, there is the official Google Authenticator, but I think that's bloatware and I use the FreeOTP one made by RedHat, it's also on the Play Store.


I don't know if there are equivalent apps for iphone / ios.


I also have my fiat banking apps on my phone, but it's really more to look at my balance when I use my accounts or cards. (debit cards, credit cards.)

I wouldn't worry about rank too much. My account is even older, but due to not posting, well, and just plain lurking and reading, nothing is happening.

As long as you post something worthwhile and meaningful, and do it from time to time (like once a week or something like that) then the rank and merits will come.

Hmm my posts were just deleted. How do I contact he Mod to find out that the problem is? Can someone help please....

I think we should stay on topic. My post was just deleted too. Hoping you can read this before this one gets deleted.

I got my tokens, but I'm not sure if I've received the Incent bonus.

I have the equivalent of about 50 BTC. Equivalent, because most of my stash is in assorted alts. Some of them are not liquid enough, so I'll have to trade them back to BTC slowly, but I am confident I can get at least 40 if forced to liquidate them all quickly, as in a few days.

So you don't have 50 BTC. Very risky strategy IMHO. That is the same as saying that you currently have 50 BTC worth in fiat, and we all know how that story goes (135k$ for future reference..).

Well, I wouldn't go that far ... I did qualify it by saying if I had to dump all of them at once, right now, I might get only 40 BTC.

It is risky, but continuously trading them or just holding some (waiting for price to go up a little bit) has been profitable. I have a couple I intend to hold long term and the rest I will start trading next week or next month.

p&d shitcoins needs promoters

I'm not promoting any particular or specific shitcoin.

I'm not sure he likes being called "thermos" but is probably used to it.

I registered a long time ago, but never really posted, just lurked all these years. But I figure I should contribute a little bit even if it's every few months or so.

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[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Can we just stop policing in giving merit by the users who have long history of contributing to this community? Dabs is one of the old timer here and he proved himself a man to respect.

If sending merit to one guy repeatedly is something considered to abuse merit then I am also guilty of that. I have sent merits to several of WO users several time and I do not feel that I have misused it at all. They deserved it and I feel happy to share my sMerits with them.

[AverageGlabella]

Can we just stop policing in giving merit by the users who have long history of contributing to this community? Dabs is one of the old timer here and he proved himself a man to respect.

If sending merit to one guy repeatedly is something considered to abuse merit then I am also guilty of that. I have sent merits to several of WO users several time and I do not feel that I have misused it at all. They deserved it and I feel happy to share my sMerits with them.

I respect Dabs and would agree that he has proven to be a benefit to the forum however no one is immune to criticism or being questioned and I would agree with the op that some of these posts don't deserve either merit or the amount that was rewarded. I do see how Dabs could reward some of them with a little merit though.

I'm not accusing Dabs of merit abuse here and I don't think that is the case considering his position on the forum but he probably does not have the same standards when sending merit as others on this forum might have and that's fine as long as its not taking the piss too much.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Eh, I don't think this constitutes merit abuse.  Was it a lot of merits to give a newbie?  Yeah.  But those posts were actually pretty decent, and they were written in good English.  And my guess is that Dabs also agreed with what MichaelX wrote.  I don't have a problem with any of this personally. 

I just want to know is this really normal activity?

It's not "normal" necessarily (especially with a newbie account involved), but that doesn't mean something shady was going on.  My advice to you is to stop worrying about non-issues like this and focus on earning your own merits and rewarding posts you think are worthy.  If Dabs ever did show a sustained pattern of merit abuse, it'll come to light eventually. 

If sending merit to one guy repeatedly is something considered to abuse merit then I am also guilty of that.

I've done it, too.  There are some members who are glaringly under-merited and sometimes I've looked back into their post histories and sought out posts to merit.  Not saying that's what Dabs did, but who knows.  All I know is there's not anything about what he did that would lead me to think he's a merit abuser.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

however no one is immune to criticism or being questioned

I am not saying that either. Everyone should be questioned if thing looks wrong but in this case I do not see much wrong here. I tell you what I have even given merit to only an image that was posted or a gif coz I thought it was merit worthy. I liked the joke and the humor presented on that. I am sure a lot of users will disagree but sending merit really is very much depending on someone's own view.

There are some members who are glaringly under-merited and sometimes I've looked back into their post histories and sought out posts to merit.  Not saying that's what Dabs did, but who knows.  All I know is there's not anything about what he did that would lead me to think he's a merit abuser.

I have done this too several times and in regular eyes it may look odd but the one who awarded it he/she must have an explanation and they are right in their point of view.
In Dabs case, I am sure he has some good intention and logic and looking at the merit sent in two WO posts, I would say that I would do the same if I had sMerits and spotted it when I was in a good mood.

[yahoo62278]

Can we just stop policing in giving merit by the users who have long history of contributing to this community?

This forum has way too many wanna be scambusters. Everyone thinks that's how you get respect around here or something. I like people busting scammers but I also think starting bad accusations should get users held accountable.

Not saying this is a good or bad accusation, just my opinion overall.

[BrewMaster]

sometimes people who have large number of merits to spend find someone who has a lower rank and deserves receiving merits but hasn't received that much from others. they go through their history and give a bunch to the posts they think deserve that merit. it is actually more common than you'd think specially among merit sources (don't know if dabs is one or not).
i checked some of these posts, i think they did deserve the merits they received.

[suchmoon]

Within 2 minutes, Dabs gave to MichaelX a total of 18 merits( Including 2 years old posts). I didn't think it was normal in anyway.
The posts that have been given merit, are those posts really deserve getting so much merit within 2 minutes ?
I just want to know is this really normal activity?

Sending or receiving merits is not proof of anything. Do you have actual proof or at least a reasonable suspicion that something is not "normal" here, e.g. merit being sold, or the accounts being alts of each other?

I'm sure you can find greater amounts of merits spent in a shorter period of time for posts that (to you) may seem not deserving. Merit sources and other merit senders are encouraged to try to send out as many merits as possible and put the halved merits back into circulation. In fact it says right there on the merit page: "There is no point in hoarding sMerit; keeping it yourself does not benefit you".

[actmyname]

[Jet Cash]

sometimes people who have large number of merits to spend find someone who has a lower rank and deserves receiving merits but hasn't received that much from others.

I'm in that position, and I'm finding it harder to fast scan threads with all the formatting, and petty bitching that is going on.

[philipma1957]

At op keep looking for patterns like this. It is a good catch even if it means nothing at all.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

This forum has way too many wanna be scambusters. Everyone thinks that's how you get respect around here or something.

There are so many scams being perpetrated not only in crypto in general but on bitcointalk in particular that I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying to expose them.  That said, this isn't a valid accusation IMO, nor would I concentrate my efforts on merit abuse if I was a newcomer to the scambusting world.  Theymos has pretty much said to leave it alone, so it's just wasted time and energy.

I'm in that position, and I'm finding it harder to fast scan threads with all the formatting, and petty bitching that is going on.

Maybe you're frequenting the wrong sections.  There's always petty bitching going on, but threads in Economics, Speculation, and a few others seem to be free of that nowadays.  Meta and Reputation are always rife with squabbling and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon. 

Not sure what the problem is with formatting.  Nothing seems to be different to my eyes, though I did see your thread about not using bold text in posts.  I agree with that, along with not using caps and symbols in thread titles.

At op keep looking for patterns like this. It is a good catch even if it means nothing at all.

I would advise likewise--except that I would only start up a thread if there's good evidence of a scam or other wrongdoing, and I'd probably stay away from merit issues.  It'd be nice to hear from Dabs, but he probably thought he found a newbie who was undermerited and thought he'd do him a favor.  Nothing wrong with that.

[khaled0111]

It's not "normal" necessarily (especially with a newbie account involved)

He is an newbie but he has been here since 2015. Definitley, earning merits is not one of his concerns.

I think what made Dabs go through the user's last posts is this:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5169623.msg52639023

You may disagree with Dabs on this but it can't be considered as abuse in any way.

[DireWolfM14]

MichaelX has made some pretty decent posts, maybe not the ones that were merited by Dabs, but in general.  I've seen some members give a lot of merit to one post that may not seem deserving, but it may be due to the merit giver not wanting to spend a lot of time clicking on other posts that should have received merit.

I don't see anything malicious going on here, but I also don't think anyone should be discouraging the OP from bringing up these issues if he feels there is something malicious going on.  This is a discussion board, after all.  And here we are discussing an issue, real or perceived.  

[Jet Cash]

Maybe you're frequenting the wrong sections.  There's always petty bitching going on, but threads in Economics, Speculation, and a few others seem to be free of that nowadays. 

I've given up on politics and economics. I keep getting posts deleted, and one gets tired of the same mass media stuff being trotted out, and I'm mainly interested in the supra-national activities of the elite. I did dip into speculation, but my level of knowledge is fairly low, and I'm really confined to speculative trading of the wicks on Coin Base, and there isn't really much you can say about that, you just have to do it. I do want to create a tokenised security for an investment club, and also to fund a woodland conservation project, but I haven't got much further that talking about them over coffee.

Once I can sort out my van, I'll start to discuss Bitcoin for digital nomads, but right now I'm trying to claim compensation for £5,000 worth of goods that were removed from one of my garages as a result of an admin error. So far they have admitted liability, and offered £600, so there is a long way to go.

Re: the OP. Being a merit source is becoming a bit of a thankless task, and I did send you a PM about this. I didn't look at the posts in question, but the amounts seem to be fairly small, and the awards may well fit in with the request by Theymos to encourage new members with merit awards.

[The Cryptovator]

For your info, DTs are not involving about merit abuse because of below quote,

If a DT member tags you for something stupid involving merit (ie. probably anything less than selling merit), then they're not going to be a DT member for much longer.

Means admin isn't encourage to tag someone for merit abuse if there nothing related sells. I don't think a staff will involved with merit sells or like abuse.

I don't know if Dabs is a merit source, but I believe he/she should be more careful during spend merit. To be honest below post doesn't deserve even single merit from me even I am a merit source and I don't see how this post could consider even good post,

I got my tokens, but I'm not sure if I've received the Incent bonus.

Which angle this post deserve merit ? If so then all post of this forum should merited. So I believe Dabs should refresh his judgment although I believe he had not abuse merit system.

This forum has way too many wanna be scambusters. Everyone thinks that's how you get respect around here or something. I like people busting scammers but I also think starting bad accusations should get users held accountable.

Not saying this is a good or bad accusation, just my opinion overall.

MichaelX even didn't earned single merit from any other forum member and suddenly got 18 merit from Dabs, is it not something suspicious?

[hd49728]

Why do we have to care about how others use their merits? They have rights to hold their merits or send them to any posts of any user they want. There is no official guide or rule on how to send merits. Ideally, merits should be sent to good posts, but it does not matter if someone sends merits to a funny one.

For one post, I can agree with it, or like it, and send my merit to it, but others can disagree or don't like it, and of course, they don't send their merits to it.

That topic was locked weeks ago, but I think it contains some useful and valuable ideas.
Sendable merit, how to use it? Send it when agree/ disagree with posts?

[Coyster]

There have been so many users trying to burst merit abusers and it's not being working, I wonder why users still bother. I must say I've seen far worse cases than this, and they've all happened with no one complaining or raising an eyebrow, so if those did, there is no need bringing up any of such related cases.

The thing is dabs would not be tagged, nor would the merited user be, it's almost impossible to prove a case of merit abuse, and if we started to look into it, then you'll be restricting users to how they spend their Smerits, which makes no sense imho. It's best if this sort of cases stop coming up.

[The-One-Above-All]

Why do we have to care about how others use their merits? They have rights to hold their merits or send them to any posts of any user they want. There is no official guide or rule on how to send merits. Ideally, merits should be sent to good posts, but it does not matter if someone sends merits to a funny one.

For one post, I can agree with it, or like it, and send my merit to it, but others can disagree or don't like it, and of course, they don't send their merits to it.

That topic was locked weeks ago, but I think it contains some useful and valuable ideas.
Sendable merit, how to use it? Send it when agree/ disagree with posts?

BINGO

It is meaningless garbage, and impossible to abuse really.

Dabs can give merit to garbage (not that those posts are especially garbage in the context of meta board) and nobody can say anything about it. It can not be abused by DT or mods. Theymos may remove merit sources if they give merit to excellent high value posts if the merit source has said he will focus on giving merit to those persons his political views align with. So merit is meaningless dirt. There can be no other way of seeing it.

I mean some mods here merit derailing off topic one liner insults and it is fine. Or some mods , DTs and merit sources will merit DEBUNKED false accusations just because they can and find it fun to do so. Theymos does not mind about that at all.

Meantime theymos is happy to allow the merit cancer to determine nearly all aspects of governance and control. You can imagine how that is working out.

If you have time pull up all DT1's top 20 merit fans and recipients. You may find that rather interesting. Then look at who includes who on DT and cross reference that with the dirty turds thread.

If you are not on the merit merry go round and actually want some merits (not that you probably do now that we have explained it is meaningless garbage) certainly do NOT mention it is clearly abused in the sense it is not given to merit worthy posts.

Dabs is nowhere near abusing compared to what you will find if you start poking into some meta board threads and have the capacity to determine real value from clearly incorrect debunked low functioning spew.

Challenging the governing group regarding their merit giving habits will never meet with any support. The merit system DIRECTLY ensures a two tier system they themselves control and ensures they get on chipmixer and other high paying sig spots, take the escrow positions , your right to trade or be paid2post and now if your post will be seen.

I hope that helps the OP see the futility of any merit complaints in meta.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Here's where the problem is coming from, you see a user putting in efforts, contributing positively to the forum instead of putting aside 1-5 minutes of your time to go through his post history to merit well deserving posts, most meriters decide to merit any post they see, same scenario can be observed with giveaway threads, instead of meriting the threads highlighted they merit the links submitted.

In this case I won't considered it to be an abuse maybe, he just didn't have time to review post to post quality but felt the users deserve recieving some merit for his previous efforts (quality contributions) and for starters he's a staff and probably a merit source so I don't think he'll be putting those privilege into jeopardy for just some few merit and not forgetting, merit abuse is a very subjective matter which DT users are advice to abstain from debating on (tagging users).