Don't send PMs begging for merits.

[Jet Cash]

I was going to post this in the beginners section, but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this. It is against the forum rules to beg for merit, and not all members are as lenient as I am. If I receive these begging PMs then I just put the member on ignore, so he won't get any merit from me, no matter how good his posting may be. I don't get very many, but I have had a couple recently, so I thought it was time to remind members about merit begging. I don't sell merit either, but it must be over a year since I have had a request to sell merit.

If you want me to award you with merit, apart from the standard awards, then persuade me to revive one of my old projects, so that members can earn merit ,and  be of benefit to the forum.

[1714853044]

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[Daniel91]

I was going to post this in the beginners section, but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this. It is against the forum rules to beg for merit, and not all members are as lenient as I am. If I receive these begging PMs then I just put the member on ignore, so he won't get any merit from me, no matter how good his posting may be. I don't get very many, but I have had a couple recently, so I thought it was time to remind members about merit begging. I don't sell merit either, but it must be over a year since I have had a request to sell merit.

If you want me to award you with merit, apart from the standard awards, then persuade me to revive one of my old projects, so that members can earn merit ,and  be of benefit to the forum.

The same thing happened to me after I started merit giveaway topic in the beginners section of the forum.
I started getting private messages from new members asking me for merits.
I understand the merits are important in this forum but it's not the right way.
Anyone who puts effort and time on this forum will receive merits while others will be ignored.

[mk4]

Good for you guys for being really tolerant for stuff like this. On a bad day, I could probably see myself publicizing their PMs lol. Thankfully I haven't received any spam emails for a while though, so there's that.

but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this.

Now this is the quite surprising part.

[friends1980]

Same here, received one two days ago from this guy, but it was the first time I had someone PM begging if I remember well.

@mk4: "please send me some merit" is not much of a spectacular message to publish, but maybe the PMs you receive are more prosaic

In the end, I didn't reply but I did leave a neutral comment on his profile, which he should be happy about, since I normally report quite rapidly, but I tend to be a little bit more lenient for Newbies lately.

Mildness comes with the age, probably right, JC?

[The Author]

When I read the rules some days ago I realized that merits are earned by
- Making relevant contribution to the forum,
- Bringing new ideas to help educate other members,
- And presenting your contributions to help promote bitcoins
Not by going around begging and sending PMs to other higher members for merit awarding which in my case I would consider disturbance that needs ignoring

[hilariousetc]

Good for you guys for being really tolerant for stuff like this. On a bad day, I could probably see myself publicizing their PMs lol. Thankfully I haven't received any spam emails for a while though, so there's that.

but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this.

Now this is the quite surprising part.

Seems some people are getting desperate to rank up as a couple of people have messaged me recently as well as a couple of people reporting unsolicited PMs. I usually just ignore the messages but people need to be really careful as this can easily backfire and they can end up tarnishing their account. I still really think we should add more donator ranks so things like this are less likely to happen and people can just buy themselves the equivalent rank rather than beg and fish for merits with threads created solely to try receive merit. It's counter-productive when that happens.

[Jet Cash]

I don't believe that buying high ranking accounts is good. It tends to bypass the selection process, and it is a bit confusing for members. However, lets say a senior exec from a £10billon exchange wants to join - should he have to start as a newbie, when he clearly isn't a Bitcoin newbie?  I would suggest a new rank of "sponsor", and it would be up to Theymos to decide if an applicant is suitable. Posting and advertising rights could be based on either payment, or the status of the sponsor's organisation.

[Rikafip]

Same here, received one two days ago from this guy, but it was the first time I had someone PM begging if I remember well.

When I saw those two posts made by that guy it looked kinda suspicious, as his first post was too well written for a brand new account, and from my experience, it is usually plagiarism, and 2nd one wasn't properly referenced He even got some merit for it. Just a little bit of reverse image search of the chart he shared and voila, he did copy his "analysis" from some Iranian website. He just Google translated it and that's about it. Here is one small example. Just shows what kind of people begs for merit.

*The moving average of convergence and divergence is slowly entering the descending zone.
*The hourly relative strength index is declining to 50.
*The main support levels are $ 9275 and then $ 9180.
*The main resistance levels are $ 9350, $ 9375 and $ 9500.

Source: https://coinsara.com/bitcoin-big-reaction-bulls-likely/


By the way, sorry for the offtopic, didn't want to derail this topic, but had to bust this guy.


Regarding the merit begging, aren't there enough merit giveaways threads in Beginners&Help section? Some of them were even closed due low interest, so I really don't get why would anyone do that. So far I haven't experienced that, but if I do, I might consider neutral tag for those.

[hilariousetc]

I still really think we should add more donator ranks so things like this are less likely to happen and people can just buy themselves the equivalent rank rather than beg and fish for merits with threads created solely to try receive merit. It's counter-productive when that happens.

I would prefer modifying copper member, such as silver and gold member rather than donator which have fixed costs.

More donator ranks as in new, different ones ie Silver and Gold Member etc.

I don't believe that buying high ranking accounts is good. It tends to bypass the selection process, and it is a bit confusing for members. However, lets say a senior exec from a £10billon exchange wants to join - should he have to start as a newbie, when he clearly isn't a Bitcoin newbie?  I would suggest a new rank of "sponsor", and it would be up to Theymos to decide if an applicant is suitable. Posting and advertising rights could be based on either payment, or the status of the sponsor's organisation.

I'm not suggesting people buy accounts or even the current user ranks but the benefits thereof ie you buy a Silver Membership which gets you the benefits of Full Member and Gold gets you the benefits of a Hero or something. You'd still be a Newbie or whatever just with the additional title. It's very hard for an average poster to rise through the ranks, hell, even a decent poster probably won't achieve the sufficient merit to become a Hero within the timeframe it takes to get the required activity so skipping the queue by donating seems like a win-win to me.

[Jet Cash]

A while ago I saw theymos's post in which he supports sending merit to those close to the new title

That is part of the opening sentence in the latest PM I received. He goes on to mention his merit count, and asks if I support this initiative of Theymos. They are getting quite creative with their merit begging.

[YOSHIE]

I can't count any more PMs coming in for me.

From begging for Merit, letting go of the red confidence in her body, and all sorts of incoming PM models from beginners and middle rank, one of the ways I do is turn off PM from beginners and ignore.

I do not believe that the accounts that have been sold and those that sell tend to be bad, no matter how skilled he is in investing / trading Bitcoin.

Example: PM sent by a high ranking account, which has been sold.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=897308



Like this is what happens, if the account is sold, even though he has another entry-level Alt account.

[Lucius]

I can't count any more PMs coming in for me.

I have just the opposite experience, no one has ever asked me for any service related to merit - neither to give them away, nor to sell them. Maybe the thing is that those who do it target merit sources or have some other criteria that my profile doesn't meet

It's very hard for an average poster to rise through the ranks, hell, even a decent poster probably won't achieve the sufficient merit to become a Hero within the timeframe it takes to get the required activity so skipping the queue by donating seems like a win-win to me.

Maybe then it's time to modify the current requirements, which are obviously too difficult for most new and some old members. If 1000 merits is the current request for Legendary rank, maybe we should lower it to 750, and Hero from 500 to maybe 350 or 400 merits. Of course, the question arises what to do with lower ranks, because in my opinion Jr. Member is very easy to reach, just like Member (1 - 10 merits) but even 10 times more is needed for Full Member rank which is too much in my opinion.

[erikoy]

How desperate would it be to ask for merits. If we were going to put our shoe in their shoe having trouble in earning merits then probably we can understand why it let them to decide to do PM to beg for merits. We cannot judge directly to users that are doing this. Probably others just wanted to make some abuses by merit farming and others may have done it as mention by other users that they are near to rank up in into new title and they can't just wait instead they ask for it for them to rank up. Other than that probably they are kids having trouble to formulate sentence but learn to do cryptocurrency but their only problem is how to make a good rational statements that could let them earn merits. As we all know adults and young once had different level of knowledge especially in reasoning out where adult could come up a good reason due to past experiences while those kids don't have.

In that case, if ever I will be able to encounter a PM asking for merit then only I can do is to scan for his posts history and see it if I can give even at least one for him if there will be a post that for me worth it to reward merits. I will not be greedy for it is only a merits and who knows that by giving him a merit the user may able to join a campaign and earn which he really intend in joining here in the forum.

Let us not judge users directly basing on how they act but I think for me in my opinion it is better to check first and ask why he needs the merit and if he is convincing then as what I have mention I will check the posts history to reward merits. If none then I can inform him to make a thread or his best posts for me to rewards him the merits. And if there is really no chance of improvement then out of pity I will still reward him with merit. We can see him a trash user for now but maybe in the long run he can grow as a good user. Let just help them instead of making fun of them. I had been into that phase of my journey here in the forum and had been laugh by other users as well but I still manage to grow activity and earn some merits just recently.  

[friends1980]

Good for you guys for being really tolerant for stuff like this. On a bad day, I could probably see myself publicizing their PMs lol. Thankfully I haven't received any spam emails for a while though, so there's that.

but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this.

Now this is the quite surprising part.

Surprising, well, yes and no. "My" beggar (yes I've got my own personal beggar now ) was a Newbie, who probably didn't know the rules very well, because it's really not that difficult to get 10 "Member rank" Merits. Most Merit-giving members put the bar relatively low for Newbies, provided they do not shitpost and show minimal "genuine" interest in the boards.

It's getting more difficult once you're on the way from Member and up, I guess, for the simple reason that you need a lot more to rank up.

Like hilariousetc was saying:

It's very hard for an average poster to rise through the ranks, hell, even a decent poster probably won't achieve the sufficient merit to become a Hero within the timeframe it takes to get the required activity (...)

What most people don't understand is that life's too short to care too much about Merit. I've often wondered how much money and energy people lose when they spend their time desperately posting spam and begging for Merit and coins, instead of putting that time and energy in a real-life job with a real-life income (fiat of course, but at least it's better than nothing except for a lot of frustrations and in the end seeing your modest profile getting banned for spamming or begging).

People should come to these boards to learn, participate (that's not a synonym of shitpost) and have a good time (probably in that order).

[rhomelmabini]

If we were going to put our shoe in their shoe having trouble in earning merits then probably we can understand why it let them to decide to do PM to beg for merits. We cannot judge directly to users that are doing this.

For me, it will still not be an option to beg for merit, trust, BTC etc. unless there's no way you could earn it or get it. I've been a Jr. Member before then get to newbie with the new system of having merit to be Jr. Member but it didn't came to mind that I'll beg for it. Instead I work my ass how others are getting or earning those merits. Yeah, we can't judge but at least we could remind them. For those who still have merits in them at least they should try, think outside the box.

It's not that I could just say this things because I have some merits earned but I say it because there's always an option, a way on how you could earn/get it.

Maybe then it's time to modify the current requirements, which are obviously too difficult for most new and some old members. If 1000 merits is the current request for Legendary rank, maybe we should lower it to 750, and Hero from 500 to maybe 350 or 400 merits. Of course, the question arises what to do with lower ranks, because in my opinion Jr. Member is very easy to reach, just like Member (1 - 10 merits) but even 10 times more is needed for Full Member rank which is too much in my opinion.

How glad I am if this will ever be implemented but I don't think this will ever be changed so easily by theymos, I think this requirements are established anymore.

[Lyte]

I was going to post this in the beginners section, but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this. It is against the forum rules to beg for merit, and not all members are as lenient as I am. If I receive these begging PMs then I just put the member on ignore, so he won't get any merit from me, no matter how good his posting may be. I don't get very many, but I have had a couple recently, so I thought it was time to remind members about merit begging. I don't sell merit either, but it must be over a year since I have had a request to sell merit.

If you want me to award you with merit, apart from the standard awards, then persuade me to revive one of my old projects, so that members can earn merit ,and  be of benefit to the forum.

   The truth is this some would rather go through the easy way to achieve what they want, rather than working hard to achieve their goal. The Bitcointalk forum offers its users the right to work hard and earn merits, not by receiving it in a plata of gold, some users don't even know how to work hard while some don't even read the rules and regulations of this platform. Begging for merit is not a good idea, some people should learn how to earn merits, not beg. Merits should be earned by;
- creating relevant post to the forum,
- creating new ideas to help educate new and old
- members, adding wonderful contributions to help promote bitcoins and lots more
- and creating plagiarism-free posts

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Seems some people are getting desperate to rank up as a couple of people have messaged me recently as well as a couple of people reporting unsolicited PMs.

Yep, I got one unsolicited PM that I could barely make sense of, but it had to do with merits and I think the member was asking me to review his post history.  I don't consider that merit begging and I actually don't mind if members send me PMs asking me to review their posts, but in this last case I deferred replying to the member since I had a hard time figuring out what he was asking exactly.

PMs that just ask you "plz can u give me 1 mrit" or similar ones (I've gotten those too) should be reported IMO, because they're not asking you to give them merits based on the quality of anything they've posted.  Fortunately I haven't gotten any of those in a long time.

By the way, blocking PMs from Newbies is likely the reason I haven't gotten any idiotic merit begging PMs.  That's something I'd encourage anyone to do if they've gotten spam PMs from Newbies.

[hilariousetc]

I can't count any more PMs coming in for me.

I have just the opposite experience, no one has ever asked me for any service related to merit - neither to give them away, nor to sell them. Maybe the thing is that those who do it target merit sources or have some other criteria that my profile doesn't meet

It's very hard for an average poster to rise through the ranks, hell, even a decent poster probably won't achieve the sufficient merit to become a Hero within the timeframe it takes to get the required activity so skipping the queue by donating seems like a win-win to me.

Maybe then it's time to modify the current requirements, which are obviously too difficult for most new and some old members. If 1000 merits is the current request for Legendary rank, maybe we should lower it to 750, and Hero from 500 to maybe 350 or 400 merits. Of course, the question arises what to do with lower ranks, because in my opinion Jr. Member is very easy to reach, just like Member (1 - 10 merits) but even 10 times more is needed for Full Member rank which is too much in my opinion.

Maybe the ranks could be tweaked a bit. Legendary should probably follow the other ranks at 750 merit and in doubling with every one. I'd like to see an additional rank for those very high merited users. Some other perks would be nice.

It's very hard for an average poster to rise through the ranks, hell, even a decent poster probably won't achieve the sufficient merit to become a Hero within the timeframe it takes to get the required activity (...)

What most people don't understand is that life's too short to care too much about Merit. I've often wondered how much money and energy people lose when they spend their time desperately posting spam and begging for Merit and coins, instead of putting that time and energy in a real-life job with a real-life income (fiat of course, but at least it's better than nothing except for a lot of frustrations and in the end seeing your modest profile getting banned for spamming or begging).

People should come to these boards to learn, participate (that's not a synonym of shitpost) and have a good time (probably in that order).

That's like saying life's too short to care about money or a promotion at work. It's those things that often give people a better life so that's why they desire them as ranks here = promotion and more merit = more money and time saved if they can get it. The majority of people who spend their time here desperately trying to achieve ranks or earn from from campaigns are probably doing it because it's one of their better options. Would you rather be unemployed or do back-breaking menial work when you can get paid from the comfort of your own home for doing some posting? Some signature campaigns pay a good amount of money and if you're from the developing world getting on a campaign like Chipmixer might be life-changing money so that's why people are desperate for merit/ranks as it means more money for them. If most of these people had better options they'd probably be doing them but sadly they likely don't.

[friends1980]

That's like saying life's too short to care about money or a promotion at work. It's those things that often give people a better life so that's why they desire them as ranks here = promotion and more merit = more money and time saved if they can get it. The majority of people who spend their time here desperately trying to achieve ranks or earn from from campaigns are probably doing it because it's one of their better options. Would you rather be unemployed or do back-breaking menial work when you can get paid from the comfort of your own home for doing some posting? Some signature campaigns pay a good amount of money and if you're from the developing world getting on a campaign like Chipmixer might be life-changing money so that's why people are desperate for merit/ranks as it means more money for them. If most of these people had better options they'd probably be doing them but sadly they likely don't.

Of course, that's why I said not to care "too much", since some of these people (we're talking about beggars right) are really obsessed or desperate, as if reaching a higher rank leads you to paradise. But indeed, for some people in some regions in the world, even a few dollars a week can make a huge difference, I do realize that.

Just clarifying, I wouldn't want people to think I'm a nut who believes we could all live from "l'amour et de l'eau fraîche".

[The Cryptovator]

The problem isn't just merit begging, peoples are just looking for quick merit earning methods, to be honest. I can't recall exactly who but I had received a couple of merits begging PM, perhaps I made a post about that as well. But lately, I am not receiving such as merit begging PM. I have helped a couple of users to rank up by reporting LoyceV thread Report unmerited good posts to Merit Source. I feel good when I can help someone, so whenever I noticed any user that is near rank up then I try to help him/her. More merits sources are helping as well, really I appreciate them. But begging via PM isn't acceptable.

I'd like to see an additional rank for those very high merited users. Some other perks would be nice.

Second that, there should be something for high merits earner, at least for the appreciation.

[icopress]

That is part of the opening sentence in the latest PM I received. He goes on to mention his merit count, and asks if I support this initiative of Theymos. They are getting quite creative with their merit begging.

You are confusing me because I do not understand why you distort the facts (exaggeration may be normal for you, but not for me).
And before creating a thread, you could just clarify what message I was talking about, then you probably would have lost the desire to act out the drama.

But undoubtedly some people got screwed by this, and if they have decent posts, by all means, give them the 250 or 500 merit that they need to rank-up.

As for PM... I was looking for a wiser interlocutor and asked for advice from some of the forum participants based on their judgments or the judgments of people from their circle of trust, since I trust them directly.

Some of them kindly shared their thoughts on this matter, showing more or less relevant topics. And we have come to an agreement that there is no hard policy regarding users approaching a new rank and the threads discussed are more suited to DTs or people encouraging decent posts. Although now things are so that many simply ignore such threads.

Yep, I got one unsolicited PM that I could barely make sense of, but it had to do with merits and I think the member was asking me to review his post history.  I don't consider that merit begging and I actually don't mind if members send me PMs asking me to review their posts, but in this last case I deferred replying to the member since I had a hard time figuring out what he was asking exactly.

As for you, The Pharmacist, I have already answered above why I wrote to you. And it seemed obvious to me that you might be asked for advice, not because you might be a generous sender of merit, but because of your sober mind. And if my memory serves me, I also supported those users when I agreed with you and when you were empty.

[MainIbem]

If you want me to award you with merit, apart from the standard awards, then persuade me to revive one of my old projects, so that members can earn merit ,and  be of benefit to the forum.

There was a thread you introduced that helped many earn merits sometime ago when the merit system was introduced. It will certainly be a good idea to revive that project.

When I read the rules some days ago I realized that merits are earned by
- Making relevant contribution to the forum,
- Bringing new ideas to help educate other members,
- And presenting your contributions to help promote bitcoins
Not by going around begging and sending PMs to other higher members for merit awarding which in my case I would consider disturbance that needs ignoring

Very true. Merit beggars are just some lazy folks.

[Lucius]

How glad I am if this will ever be implemented but I don't think this will ever be changed so easily by theymos, I think this requirements are established anymore.

No one expected such a drastic change to occur when the merit system was introduced, but most will agree that this was necessary given the incredible amount of spam and huge alt account farms that abused everything they got their hands on. But every measure is subject to modification at any time, so if the admin estimates that the existing ranking system is too demanding for most, I don't see why some requirements wouldn't change, and that might include new ranks.

Still, I don’t think that would solve the problem of merit begging via PM or even in a public way. For some, this is something completely natural, just like plagiarism.

[erikoy]

No one expected such a drastic change to occur when the merit system was introduced, but most will agree that this was necessary given the incredible amount of spam and huge alt account farms that abused everything they got their hands on. But every measure is subject to modification at any time, so if the admin estimates that the existing ranking system is too demanding for most, I don't see why some requirements wouldn't change, and that might include new ranks.

Still, I don’t think that would solve the problem of merit begging via PM or even in a public way. For some, this is something completely natural, just like plagiarism.

Make merits to decay so that we can see the actual merits provided by the admin to an ideal circulation for the forum. @OgNasty had done some good support on newbie in the Beginners & Help section by giving them almost 7 merits just signing in bitcoin address and verify them one by one. I think getting in to member rank is not difficult for those newbie who had been rewarded with the merits rewarded by him.

I saw many users here that are doing great in making statistics and that would be good to determine here the statistics of number of users per rank. So that admin can check whether it is really need to give more merits or not depending on the number of users as per rank.

Decaying merits would still be the best option I guess. However, I think that admins had plan on this already and they just going to implement it on the right time. Of course if you are planning so must think ahead so that you can avoid possible technical mistakes for the forum and to the users of bitcointalk. We'll have to wait, see and trust the admin.

[JohnBitCo]

I was going to post this in the beginners section, but it seems to be the mid ranking members that do this. It is against the forum rules to beg for merit, and not all members are as lenient as I am. If I receive these begging PMs then I just put the member on ignore, so he won't get any merit from me, no matter how good his posting may be. I don't get very many, but I have had a couple recently, so I thought it was time to remind members about merit begging. I don't sell merit either, but it must be over a year since I have had a request to sell merit.

If you want me to award you with merit, apart from the standard awards, then persuade me to revive one of my old projects, so that members can earn merit ,and  be of benefit to the forum.

I think it would be better if you expose few of them who PM you for a merit. If you publicly announce who are PM you for merits, they won't get the merit from anyone and it will be a good lesson for them.
Also it will prevent people from further asking for merits in the inbox and this trend will soon end. There could be a thread where everyone could report who is privately asking for merits.

[vapourminer]

Make merits to decay so that we can see the actual merits provided by the admin to an ideal circulation for the forum. @OgNasty had done some good support on newbie in the Beginners & Help section by giving them almost 7 merits just signing in bitcoin address and verify them one by one. I think getting in to member rank is not difficult for those newbie who had been rewarded with the merits rewarded by him.

I saw many users here that are doing great in making statistics and that would be good to determine here the statistics of number of users per rank. So that admin can check whether it is really need to give more merits or not depending on the number of users as per rank.

Decaying merits would still be the best option I guess. However, I think that admins had plan on this already and they just going to implement it on the right time. Of course if you are planning so must think ahead so that you can avoid possible technical mistakes for the forum and to the users of bitcointalk. We'll have to wait, see and trust the admin.

sMerits given to merit sources every month (as opposed to regular merits) do disappear 30 days after they are given. use em or lose em as they say. these monthly sMerits given do not show in a sources merit count ( this one everyone sees under to your account name). regular merits given to folks by non sources do last forever. or until theymos changes things.

also regular merits given to sources act like regular merits given to anyone else.

of course they way i described this is probably even more confusing. im pretty good at getting things wrong and/or not explaining well.

edit: i did receive a rather confusing PM recently.

[OgNasty]

Yes, asking for merit is not only pathetic, but it shows that these users are interested in inflating their presence here through any means necessary.  These are the kinds of users that destroy decentralized systems for everyone.

Don't be like Vod.  Don't demand merit from people.

I'll expect to see some merit from you as stated when I launch the new URL and new design sans big banner ad in your face.  

[iamsheikhadil]

I think begging for merits should be considered a serious offence with a temporary ban. But we have topics where people giveaway merits by asking others to post their thread links etc. It's hard to define a line between requesting to check a person's posts and give merits if they deserve and simply begging for merits by saying "please check my posts and give merits sir" the final discretion is in the giver's hands. But if they continue to insist then that should warrant a warning or a temporary ban.

[Daniel91]

I think begging for merits should be considered a serious offence with a temporary ban. But we have topics where people giveaway merits by asking others to post their thread links etc. It's hard to define a line between requesting to check a person's posts and give merits if they deserve and simply begging for merits by saying "please check my posts and give merits sir" the final discretion is in the giver's hands. But if they continue to insist then that should warrant a warning or a temporary ban.

I think that the limit can be drawn between the wanted and unwanted request for merits.
If the OP allow applications for merits in the merit giveaway topic  it should be ok but if after closing the topic members continue to send applications for merits then it should not be allowed.
I don't think it's hard to draw the line and then it's up to the OP whether he wants to report unwanted requests for merits or not.
In my case, I did not report such unwanted merits requests and maybe I should have.

[Jet Cash]

I've given merits as a reward for taking part in various projects - Fit to Talk English for example. Joining that isn't begging for merits in my opinion, although the expectation of a reward is possibly the primary reason for joining it. It's a bit like offering to pay someone to mow your lawn, which is obviously acceptable,and someone begging for money by sitting outside the supermarket, and that isn't in my opinion. Although I believe that buskers provide a service, and that should be allowed ( within reason ).



Meritable post requests is a difficult one. I don't really like them, but I can understand that a member with smerits to award may not have the time to hunt for quality posts, and such threads can provide a way for him to distribute his smerits. Direct requests by PM are an intrusion, and I believe that such offenders should be placed on ignore at the very least.

[UserU]

I think it would be better if you expose few of them who PM you for a merit. If you publicly announce who are PM you for merits, they won't get the merit from anyone and it will be a good lesson for them.
Also it will prevent people from further asking for merits in the inbox and this trend will soon end. There could be a thread where everyone could report who is privately asking for merits.

There might be some who might oppose, claiming privacy of PMs should be respected #PLM.

Ironically it happened in the Wall of Shame thread not too long ago.

[onecall123]

There might be some who might oppose, claiming privacy of PMs should be respected #PLM.

Ironically it happened in the Wall of Shame thread not too long ago.

Do you realize that people can have a different sense of humor? So not all the messages contains with value, purposeful, encouraging some are pathetic as well. For instance, If you have received such begging PMs then you just simply put the member on your ignore list just like OP did. Sound agreeable, nah?

Some member need to grow up, as merit things make them impatience. However, Newcomers should keep the privilege of curating the discussion, for everyone's benefit.

[shield132]

I don't believe that buying high ranking accounts is good. It tends to bypass the selection process, and it is a bit confusing for members. However, lets say a senior exec from a £10billon exchange wants to join - should he have to start as a newbie, when he clearly isn't a Bitcoin newbie?  I would suggest a new rank of "sponsor", and it would be up to Theymos to decide if an applicant is suitable. Posting and advertising rights could be based on either payment, or the status of the sponsor's organisation.

Before registering here, I was actively using this forum for educational purposes but started with newbie's rank. I think that's normal and we shouldn't test someone's knowledge and give them rank according to that but I agree with you at some point. I think we should have a badge like sponsor or verified user, most likely this will be used on company's representatives here, those who make official ANN threads. Verification may be done the way fb pages, twitter accounts are verified on famous persons.

In overall, current merit system needs some significant changes and improvement, we shouldn't stuck on old, first model because time already show us what's happening around it. For example, merits mustn't be given on local boards cause people here think like: Hey, this guy is from my nation, let's unite and help each other.

Merit has turned into business, some guys have tons of merits on local boards where foreigner has no idea what they talk but they don't have any merits on traditional/global boards. Some people even just directly ask for merits to strangers... I think such people should be excluded from merit system, which, as a result cause stuck of their rank.

Those who ask only for merits look this forum as a commercial thing and a way to earn some bucks via posting. When you post without passion and for some bucks, this means you aren't doing thing that you enjoy and don't give a fuck other posts while posting. You visit thread, post, get some bucks and go away, then repeat the same. That's what lowers the quality of content on this forum.

[krishnaverma]

It is sad to see that a member has to remind newbies regarding this even after so much time the new system was enforced. I mean if someone has not understood or accepted the new system that ranks members based on merits, he should consider other platforms.

By begging for merits, one will only worsen his situation like he might get on the ignore list of reputed members or merit sources.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Rules are equal for all in everywhere.  So every member has to abide by the rules of this forum.  Everyone has to accept that the ranking changes on the merit system.  It is not a place of emotion to beg for merit.

Very correct. Furthermore, no point in begging, it will not give anything positive.

I don't know if most or some of newbies are begging for merits to rank up in the forum, some newbies are only here to share to some ideas and got interested to cryptocurrencies. I did not imagine they will get to the point of begging merits through private messages, well it does makes sense for them coz they will get banned if they include it in their posts but hell no it's very futile.


Rank is just a small hurdle slightest restriction to contribute in the forum.

[Peanutswar]

I've never experience begging for merits because Im just a full member? or this commonly happens with a higher rank?. Well, mostly I just read a lot of thread which is asking for help how they earn merit. Base on my experience there are some members asking for help about the scamming platforms and asking for tips how do they can earn merit and rank up to join into the signature campaign.

It is sad to see that a member has to remind newbies regarding this even after so much time the new system was enforced. I mean if someone has not understood or accepted the new system that ranks members based on merits, he should consider other platforms.

By begging for merits, one will only worsen his situation like he might get on the ignore list of reputed members or merit sources.

Even there is no merit begging there are some members using merit abuse, as events, and some of the merits give away they are spamming their account just to earn merit and join into bounty campaigns/signature campaigns.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

As a source I find it very helpful when links are sent to me indicating some quality post I must have missed in my attempt of looking for quality posts to merit. I even took it a step further by creating a thread just for that purpose (can be found here). I'm not advocating for PM's to be sent to me begging for your personal post to be merited but if you come across quality threads and don't have smerits to award, you can make use of my thread highlighted above and when I got some spares on me, I'll do the needful, only if I find them worthy based on my standard.

I love how theymos, give use the privilege to interpret some rules on our own instead of imposing some interpretation on us. Assuming I was to receive a PM trying the convince me of how your post deserve some merit I would consider that to be you begging for my smerits but if that PM was to be a thread of someone else, I won't consider it merit begging.

Instead I will see it as you trying to contribute to the growth of the forum in your own way since you don't have the smerit but wish for those threads to be merited which might just persuade me into reviewing your account.

[Jet Cash]

I'm thinking of using merits to promote various boards, and as an experiment, I'm going to give at least 25 merits to posts on the tech support board today. Obviously posts will have to be about Bitcoin and Bitcoin core.

Please don't span ne with links, I'll find the  posts that I like during the course of today.

[GeorgeJohn]

Yeah it's obvious that beginner's always conscious of getting merits in order to ranked up, a newbie begging for merits or PMs for merit, it's some how prohibited because the protocols of Bitcointalk community do not permits such.

But looking at other way round a beginner is looking for an easy access to get merits in all ramifications, which I can see as a respect  or regards to whom user that been PM, because is not everyone that beginner's can ask or beg for help in order to accelerate in forum of the forum.

From my views if new users PM a senior member of the forum for merits,and the forum's, rules and regulations of the community does permits such, I will advice to leave the user for sometime, like intervals of two weeks, after such the new user should be merited via any of his quality Post so that it will not  be discouraged.

But try to let the user know that why you merited him is because of his contribution and level of text construction, so that the user will add more efforts in text construction which will fetch him merits instead of soliciting for merits in different angles of the forum.

[lifeOK]

Everyone wants his ranking to be promoted but it has to be done legally.  This is not a place to be promoted by begging with passion and there is no satisfaction in it.

Exactly, Just keep engaging with your quality posting and contributing to the discussion and then you you'll automatically climb the ranking. Self promoted that's lead illegal in the long run won't help at all. Be a contributing member of the forum not the toxic individual to others member. Criteria is just that simple to be followed.

[Tamim121]

Newbie, jr member or lower rank people want to get merit for going to higher rank. Sometime they PM for merit. But they don't know that they don't do that. This is one kind of illegal asking merit in useless post. If anyone want to get merit then he need to make useful post which will help other forum member.

[erikoy]

As a source I find it very helpful when links are sent to me indicating some quality post I must have missed in my attempt of looking for quality posts to merit.

Ah see, at first I just thought you were a merit source now it has been confirmed. I am glad to see a user that has the strong will on promulgating healthier forum without getting paid. A merit source is another load of work given to admin without getting paid to look for the quality posts to be awarded with merits. The admin if not been careful enough to chose a user that would be trusted then merits given will not be put to good use. Lukcy that there are users dedicated in this forum and willing to help just @DdmrDdmr and @CryptopreneurBrainboss.

Anyway, Do merit source receive often PM's from users asking for merits? Some like @CryptopreneurBrainboss had already disclose about being a merit source and even if were not but I think you can sense a user that are merit source. Isn't awkward to ask for merits in PM? Isn't it awkward to ask for it?

This is why I never will going to ask or begging for it. In the right time though it may take slow as long as I have learn cryptocurrency and able to participate in the activities and earn few cents then that would be alright for me. I just hope that my stay here will be able to get meaningful experience in the forum.

[Daniel91]

Newbie, jr member or lower rank people want to get merit for going to higher rank. Sometime they PM for merit. But they don't know that they don't do that. This is one kind of illegal asking merit in useless post. If anyone want to get merit then he need to make useful post which will help other forum member.

it seems to me that we have come to the point that many new members (not everybody of course) are becoming too desperate and will do anything to get merits because their main goal of coming to this forum is earning and they can't do it without proper forum rank.
So far, I have not reported such unsolicited messages or requests for merits, but it is already becoming a bit too stressful for me and I have given up on launching new merit giveaway topics.

[Smartvirus]

How desperate would it be to ask for merits. If we were going to put our shoe in their shoe having trouble in earning merits then probably we can understand why it let them to decide to do PM to beg for merits.

My only wonder is,
What desperate position can a forum user possibly be to beg for merit?
Let's call a spade a spade and vice versa for shovels.
The law is the law and should be ahead to else, all will be in chaos. Due diligence and putting in the work is sure to give you that which you desire. It's wrong to beg for merit as it abuses the merit system. That been that, if merits were to be dished out because a supposed desperate user PM you, then we are sure to have a lot of desperate users on the forum and again, if merits were to be sold, you can imagine what merchandise it would have been here in the forum and how much chances the financially disabled would have got at earning even one! I guess zero!
It's for the best that it is to be given rather freely based on personal judgement on post quality, creativity and which ever criteria a merit source uses than for it to be through pm oftom a supposed desperate user or being sold.
We can't abuse the merit system to fuel our fire. It's wrong to beg for merit!