Suggestion to make rank-up more difficult

[GazetaBitcoin]

Many will wonder after reading the title. Maybe many will blame this idea.

But, in my opinion, ranking up is way too easy now. Why I say that:

- for ranking up to Jr. Member you need just 1 merit; for Member you need only 10. Indeed, it seems so hard for a Newbie to earn 1 merit  but it is not hard actually (explained below).
- activity allows to become Legendary in 2 years or 2 years and a few weeks. Literally speaking, in real world, legends are built in far more time, not just in 2 years.
- many users help those who need a few more merits to rank up by giving them easily the respective merits. I think even if you are 1-10 merits away from the next rank, you should work for them as you did until that point.
- as far as I saw, merits are awarded too easy. Merit sources and members are more or less generous; besides, there are many merit giveaway threads.
- practically, all you need in order to rank up is to be a honorable person and to wait. Honorable person means the following: to not spam, to not scam, to not plagiarize and post what you think is helpful here. To act as a normal person. And users will appreciate your work. They will give you merits if you post useful consideration and if you don't try to cheat the system. So merit barrier is not a real barrier at all if you act with good intentions.

In my opinion, the only real barrier is the time barrier. Because you have to wait for the activity points, but even this barrier has too low standards. Maybe Legendary rank should be possible in 5-10 years, not in 2. What legendary person in the history became a legend in 2 years?!

So I suggest to raise the merit standards because it is way too easy to earn them and also raise the needed activity for higher ranks.

[Rikafip]

Based on this data provided the other day  by DdmrDdmr, i don't think that ranking up should be more difficult.

Snapshot as of 24/01/2020 (data as of 17/01/2020 *):

So these are the numbers after 2 years of merit introduction. For me they don't seem inflated at all, considering the amount of people that are active on this forum. You have to  find some middle ground in order to prevent spammers and shitposters from ranking up and  in the same time letting good members to keep ranking up in the reasonable time frame.

- activity allows to become Legendary in 2 years or 2 years and a few weeks. Literally speaking, in real world, legends are built in far more time, not just in 2 years.

Isn't this the best case scenario, while most often people wait  much more in order to reach legendary?

[hacker1001101001]

I don't think it's that easy to reach legendary as you are framing it, I think you have that view because you got most of your merits from the Bitcointalk Art Compition and it not that easy to earn 1000 merit's anyways. I am sure many would agree.

Although adding a new rank after legendary could be an better option IMO.

[3 angle]

I don't think it's that easy to reach legendary as you are framing it, I think you have that view because you got most of your merits from the Bitcointalk Art Compition and it not that easy to earn 1000 merit's anyways. I am sure many would agree.

Although adding a new rank after legendary could be an better option IMO.

Exactly. I agree with you. I think your opinion has represented many users here.  

Currently getting merit is already quite difficult. I think the forum rules related to the current ranking are quite difficult (fair), no need to be more difficult.

[Gyfts]

Considering how difficult it can be for good posters to earn merit, let alone newbies, ranking up is fine. It's difficult as it is seeing as you can be an active member for months with hundreds of activity points and still be a member or Jr. member because your posts don't get recognized due to the sheer size of the forum.

- practically, all you need in order to rank up is to be a honorable person and to wait. Honorable person means the following: to not spam, to not scam, to not plagiarize and post what you think is helpful here. To act as a normal person.. And users will appreciate your work. They will give you merits if you post useful consideration and if you don't try to cheat the system. So [/b]merit barrier is not a real barrier at all[/b] if you act with good intentions.

This just isn't true. You can do all these things and still not earn merit if your posts aren't seen. Many members might be hesitant to give newbies merit because giving merit can be seen an endorsement of that member's content. Putting an endorsement on a newbies content is a gamble in itself so they have a tough time as it is to rank up.

[Coin_trader]

I don't think it's that easy to reach legendary as you are framing it, I think you have that view because you got most of your merits from the Bitcointalk Art Compition and it not that easy to earn 1000 merit's anyways. I am sure many would agree.

You nailed it mate. Gaining 1000 merit is a bit frustrating considering we are not all a thread starter here and many are not good to bring creative idea that will gain merit.

---

@OP, Please consider that this is a forum and not some kind of organization. We are here to share opinions and knowledge and spending here enough time is reasonable to rank up.

If you really think that ranking system is very easy to attain. Why not you request to theymos to X2 your required merit to rank up so that you will find it more challenging. You are thinking base on your personal status and didn't consider the general condition.

[mirakal]

Honorable person, nice choice of words.

Actually, you just have to be active in the forum and make some good post so you will earn more merits that would help you rank up.
ranking up from Newbie to jr, member, member or full member is quite easy, the challenge is the rank up to Sr. Member, hero and legendary, however you won't feel it's hard if you are enjoying your life in the forum, instead, once you are ranked up, you might miss yourself when you are still in low rank.

[Jet Cash]

I think more emphasis should be given on the encouragement of discussions about Bitcoin, cryptos and global economics. At the moment, in order to gain merits, it seems that you need to discuss merits, the forum politics, and the trust system, and if you produce stats and images about this, then you get showered with merits.

It almost seems that Bitcoin Talk merits have aspirations to become a global currency. I'm waiting for someone to produce a merit mining ASIC.

[El duderino_]

In history non legend was made in 2years, then we are living in an online society where everything happens faster dude..... so get used to legend being legends faster ....

[Rengga Jati]

If you think ranking up is too easy now, just prove it yourself first! Once you have already become legendary in a short time, then you can come back here to suggest changing the merit system.

For now, I think you are better to focus on improving your account, buddy. Look!! We registered in the same year, in the same month, but unfortunately still a Full member till now. How many years we have passed it? It is already 3 years, buddy. Do you feel it is easy to rank up? For me, it is not easy.

Maybe Legendary rank should be possible in 5-10 years, not in 2. What legendary person in the history became a legend in 2 years?!

5-10 years?? Are you sure??  
Some members may have forgotten their accounts during that time.  

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

We don’t have to take the ranks too seriously, and less of all the name associated to each one. I mean Sr. Member made me feel oldish at the time, and Hero is above my pompous gauge, not to mention Legendary. I get that names like these can be cool for many, and provide a sense of achievement, but ranks may be obtained through many paths, and the Hero and Legendary appellatives are essentially a measure of endurance on the forum (derived from Activity, and even more so now in relation to the obtaining Merits for most). They are not equal to a factual status in real life nor on the forum (with possibly some exceptions).

Honestly, dedicating the time I have dedicated here so far (for better or worse in terms of inputs and outputs) is rather a stretch for me, and the associated Hero rank is irrelevant to me. Nevertheless, it is one of the challenges here, and as such, it is undertaken, knowingly conflicting my personal time limits. One can derive many more challenges here that are knowledge related, that require specific skills and capabilities. Those are harder to obtain and probably more gratifying, albeit subject to more personal time and, dare I say, capabilities.

All in all, I would not enhance the difficulty in ranks per-se, but rather, if at all, device knowledge related features that can build-up a virtual CV (i.e. undertaking courses on such and such aspect of BTC).

[Chlotide]

- activity allows to become Legendary in 2 years or 2 years and a few weeks. Literally speaking, in real world, legends are built in far more time, not just in 2 years.

Date Registered:   November 06, 2017, 09:35:33 AM

By that logic you should become Legendary any moment now. Early congrats !

Ranking up is not easy. It is not hard either. It is where it should be
I see what you mean, [Legendary] title has a big impact, sort of "the key to the city award" and should be given on some strong premises. That is just a placeholder. Could have been TheDon, Forum GURU, Awesomesauce etc... don't take it literally. Posting over 1000 days stuff that others think it's interesting or witty or revolutionary or just funny is a challenge. I don't see the need for more hurdles along the way. Merit almost solved ranking for spammers, which is good. That was the entire purpose. Not to make it harder for everyone  and at the end (after 7-8 years of being an active member) build a statue for you !

Perhaps there are things that might be better off changing in the forum, but this is not one of them.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

So I suggest to raise the merit standards because it is way too easy to earn them and also raise the needed activity for higher ranks.

Lol, I'm a staunch supporter of the merit system and I'm all for keeping shitposters from ranking up, but even I don't think it ought to be made harder to rank up than it currently is.  In fact, I've been all for Theymos tapping more members to be merit sources because I think it's already way too hard for good posters to rank up.

Date Registered:   November 06, 2017, 09:35:33 AM

By that logic you should become Legendary any moment now. Early congrats !

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what's motivating OP to write what he did.  I find it hard to believe that he actually wants to make it harder to rank up when it still taking him a long time to do so.  It's way too early in the year for an April fools joke.

[rosezionjohn]

The current ranking system (activity + merit) is working and if it ain't broken, then there is no need to fix it. Maybe you are on a momentum gaining merits after merits from the topics and posts that you are making but don't take them lightly.

If you haven't noticed it yet, there are plenty of users here posting how close they are to ranking up or how happy they are reaching a new rank. Some are good but most of them are clearly crying for merits.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to achieve here @OP. Maybe you also want merits for this post, maybe not. Making it harder to rank up will only cause more drama and we have seen plenty of that already. We don't want a #meritbrokemylife2.0

[dkbit98]

I would not make ranking up more difficult, but I would make some changes for sure in lowest ranks.
It is easy to become junior member, and most abuses happens in lower ranks.

[GazetaBitcoin]

Honorable person, nice choice of words.

Actually, you just have to be active in the forum and make some good post so you will earn more merits that would help you rank up.

Thank you. That's exactly what I meant.

In history non legend was made in 2years, then we are living in an online society where everything happens faster dude..... so get used to legend being legends faster ....

Hehe, that was funny indeed. And I understood your point of view.

If you think ranking up is too easy now, just prove it yourself first! Once you have already become legendary in a short time, then you can come back here to suggest changing the merit system.

For now, I think you are better to focus on improving your account, buddy. Look!! We registered in the same year, in the same month, but unfortunately still a Full member till now.

Date Registered:   November 06, 2017, 09:35:33 AM

By that logic you should become Legendary any moment now. Early congrats !

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what's motivating OP to write what he did.  I find it hard to believe that he actually wants to make it harder to rank up when it still taking him a long time to do so.  It's way too early in the year for an April fools joke.

For Chlotilde, The Pharmacist and Rengga Jati: I registered in late 2017 but I was inactive until October-November 2019. All my merits were earned since October 2019 and January 2020. 200 merits in 3 months didn't mean too much effort for me. I just behaved normally and wrote my thoughts here. Apparently they were appreciated. So I was a Newbie 3 months ago and now I am a Full Member, close to Senior.

All in all, I would not enhance the difficulty in ranks per-se, but rather, if at all, device knowledge related features that can build-up a virtual CV (i.e. undertaking courses on such and such aspect of BTC).

Thank you DdmrDdmr for sharing your opinion, it is very precious to me. Your suggestion is great!

If you really think that ranking system is very easy to attain. Why not you request to theymos to X2 your required merit to rank up so that you will find it more challenging.

To be honest, I would. But I'm sure he won't accept as he doesn't want any discrepancies inside the forum. Another reason for which I would accept is because I don't care that much about the rank. I am just a normal user and a honorable person. I behave here pure normally. I express opinions and sometimes they are good, sometimes they are not good. I don't cheat the system, I don't scam, I don't spam. And I promote crypto-anarchism, the cypherpunks, free speech and liberty for people.

However, if theymos reads this, he can double my barriers in ranking up. I accept this challenge Honesty and being a honorable person helps everyone in the society and also inside this forum. If you are not focused on merits and ranking up, if you are focused just on expressing constructive ideas, on helping others and on bringing a plus (generally speaking), on the long term, all these will help you way more than if you are oriented on fast rank-ups, on greed, on earning more and more money. Although you could disagree, life makes a difference between those with good intentions and those with bad intentions. Maybe not fast, but in time the difference is made.

Maybe you are on a momentum gaining merits after merits from the topics and posts that you are making but don't take them lightly.

If you haven't noticed it yet, there are plenty of users here posting how close they are to ranking up or how happy they are reaching a new rank. Some are good but most of them are clearly crying for merits.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to achieve here @OP. Maybe you also want merits for this post, maybe not. 

I never posted any "motivational" about how I ranked up, nor I will (at lest in the close future, as ranking up to Full Member is way too easy). Besides, I never even make a subtle approach about earning merits, nor I will. You can check absolutely all my topics / posts here. I understand is quite unusual what I wrote in this thread and I understand is also unusual to see someone acting normally in a world full os scams / spams / greed and so on. But I am 100% honest.

[o_e_l_e_o]

- practically, all you need in order to rank up is to be a honorable person and to wait.

That's pretty much how it's supposed to be. The merit system was designed to prevent spammers from ranking up, not to hinder good users. If you do the things you suggest - don't spam, don't scam, don't plagiarize, only make useful posts, learn, contribute, etc. - then you deserve to rank up without being hindered. The merit barrier, as you call it, rightfully shouldn't exist for these users, although arguable it still does. The merit barrier should only exist for the users who are here to spam, and it (largely) seems to be working in that regard.

If you are not focused on merits and ranking up, if you are focused just on expressing constructive ideas, on helping others and on bringing a plus (generally speaking), on the long term, all these will help you way more than if you are oriented on fast rank-ups, on greed, on earning more and more money.

And ironically, it is the people who are focused most on constructive contributions who rank up the fastest, while those who focus primarily on trying to earn merit and rank up quickly who do not.

[AimeHob]

First of all slow clap for you.

What you are trying to say? Whatever you do their is a community of people that can pass any restriction in the terms of "GIVE AND TAKE" so everyone will get/reach to higher rank without any waiting standards you just posted...

Regards

[GazetaBitcoin]

Oeleo, you are a smart man, young padawan I am glad you understood my point here, maybe your words are more clever / clear than mine.

[Findingnemo]

- as far as I saw, merits are awarded too easy. Merit sources and members are more or less generous; besides, there are many merit giveaway threads.

I think you are talking about those merit hunters who keep making good posts until they reach the desired number of merits and their posting behavior changes but this not happen with everyone atleast until they need 1000 merits.Simply adding one more rank than legendary may resolve this issue for a while but to be honest, ranking is not easy as how it was 2 years back so merit system is doing its job that preventing spammers and farmers from rank up.