Lots of threads similar to this have been made recently, and while it's a little cliche, it's also evidence of the fact that the merit system is working and it's possible to rank up organically if you put effort into what post and try to be helpful to others while being relevant

A little over four months ago I became a full member on the forum, and I now earned enough merits to become a Sr. Member, and I'm now a Hero member. Mine is not the fastest rise to this rank, nor is the rank the highest, but it is a milestone achievement in my Bitcoin and bitcointalk journey. This journey has been very beneficial and has improved my knowledge of various aspects of the technology and has allowed me to explore many many other areas of it. I could make a long-winded post about my ranking up, but newbies should recognize the keyword which is effort.

I use the phrase: forum made, even though all my merits are earned, because I recognize the contribution of the community members towards mine and the ranking up of so many other members and also because what I post is gotten from what I learn when I read the post of others.

The obvious next target is Hero Legendary Member, but first I'll have to learn more, improve on my discussions and also explore the other areas of the forum.

Some of my contributions (topics);
• Beginner's guide to Transaction Fees

• Beginner's Guide to House Edge and RTP

• How best to secure your Private Keys and/or Seed phrase

• What constitutes spam and how best to avoid it

• [GUIDE] Overview of the Trust Flags

• Bitcoin Evolution

• Rules of engagement, my little nuggets

Congratulations to you, for achieving the rank position as a member of Sr.

You need more Merit to step towards the Hero, of course with good ideas and posts that are meaningful to everything here that you have.

Everything can be achieved with a strong will and will, nothing is impossible while we want, on and on.

I agree.  You registered here well after the merit system started, and it isn't easy to get to Sr. Member from scratch so congratulations. 

You don't necessarily have to learn more, you just have to continue making posts that catch the eye of members who've got merits to give.  Since you've already earned over 250 merits, you're obviously doing something right.  You'll get to Hero eventually, and I hope for you that it doesn't take over a year, which is about how long it took for you to earn your first 250 merits. 

I took a look at your merit page, and it's obvious you've got a few merit fans.  It's also good that you're giving a lot of merits to others.  I'll take a look through your post history and see if I can help you out a little.

I appreciate your merits and the encouragement from you and others on this thread. I would continue to contribute to the forum as best as I can. Fingers crossed, in the hope that it doesn't take over a year.
I agree, the forum should be interactive, and knowledge should be shared between members. But most do not make any effort to join discussions qualitatively.

Edit: Created this thread to be a motivation for lower-ranking members. The forum rewards efforts.
Moving this back to beginners and help

Season greetings to you and thank you for the kind words. The merit system should be seen as a motivation to put more effort into our posts, as it is designed to reward quality contributions. The best part is the knowledge you pick up along the way.
Thanks again and I'm sure you inspire others as well.

All very well said.
Many newbie members complain that the merit system is unfair and that their good posts cannot get merits.
This is why testimonials like yours that prove otherwise are very important.
I wish you many more achievements like this in the forum and to become a legendary soon 

It's always nice to see another successful self-made Senior rank. I also did the same thing as you, I started from Newbie rank and finally can be a self-made Senior rank. Of course, it is not an easy work to reach 250+ merits, but nothing impossible if trying with serious and hard efforts. Yes, efforts without improving knowledge and your skills both in writing posts and constructing an idea/opinion, won't get optimum results. Also, don't forget that giving positive contributions and dedication to Forum will make people appreciate you. Good luck for your next target (Hero rank). Great job, mate!! 

Well, you have done an impressive effort, buddy. I know it is quite difficult to improve our ranks but it is not the reason to stop efforts and dream to achieve higher ranks. You have proven it that serious efforts and continuous progress will always work well and proven. Being a good poster is sometimes not easy enough. however, it doesn't mean that it can limit our ways to improve our efforts. I know you can do it.
Hopefully, I will also make my way step forward more to follow you and make a good progress always. I'm also still struggling to reach Hero Member. I hope you, I, and everyone who are struggling can really always make good contributions to this forum, make good progress, and reach what become the goal.

Recently updated the OP with some of my threads.
Posting topics does not guarantee merits. I compiled them as they are much easier to sift through than replies, do more reading and contribute constructively to discussions, you'll gain more knowledge to share with other users

Good to see that finally you achieve your goal it is too hard to the members to rank up immediately because of the merit system but you prove this is wrong and now you finally achieve the hero rank it takes time and I hope so that I can achieve this kind of rank or position too by having a good contribution of the post and quality contents. Still, I'm focusing my self developing to gain more knowledge and skills on our forum.


You don't need to post a topic all the time one of the best things to earn merit too is to share your knowledge and give your perspective to a particular topic and somehow there is a member appreciate your answers and gives you merit if you don't have too much time to create topic make a constructive content which is good too to earn merits.