Meriting a user who just merited you

[Pmalek]

Merits on Bitcointalk are sent for all kinds of posts. You can get merits for posting interesting guides and tutorials, helping someone solve a specific problem, and being knowledgeable and proactive. Even being funny, arrogant, or cynical can help at times.

Whatever the reason is that someone merited your post, you might sometimes (or all the time) feel like you need to respond in the same way. So, you end up rewarding the user who rewarded you with some merits as well. Especially if you were awarded more merits than you thought you would or deserve.

Did you ever find yourself thinking: that user just sent me x merits, I will go through his/her post history and find something to merit? That thought has often popped into my head, and I have indeed done it a few times myself.

When you merit someone who just merited you, do you feel good doing it?
Do you feel like it looks like an agreed exchange, even if it isn't?
Do you think it's not a proper use of the merit system?

Even if you merit a post that clearly deserves to be awarded, you didn't come across it naturally. You searched for it intentionally. I am curious what other users think about this.

[LoyceV]

Do you feel like it looks like an agreed exchange, even if it isn't?

Yes
Sometimes I see a user Merited one of my posts right before I Merited him. It always makes me feel someone's going to judge me on that.
And it happens the other way too: If someone Merited me, I usually refrain from Meriting one of their posts, even though they deserve it.

Just Merit source problems

[AB de Royse777]

Whatever the reason is that someone merited your post, you might sometimes (or all the time) feel like you need to respond in the same way. So, you end up rewarding the user who rewarded you with some merits as well. Especially if you were awarded more merits than you thought you would or deserve.

I don't even know when I get awarded merits. It was exciting at the beginning but once you get used to it the feel disappears. I focus on more to finding merit worthy post most of the time.

There is a topic which LoyceV or suchmoon created if I can recall correctly. It's about what others need to take when I am sending merit. I will try to find that topic and give a link which explained my criteria .

[Bttzed03]

~
There is a topic which LoyceV or suchmoon created if I can recall correctly. It's about what others need to take when I am sending merit. I will try to find that topic and give a link which explained my criteria .

What I was looking for was this topic - If you received a merit... but this one appeared first and it is probably what you're referring to - Users that you should merit

[webtricks]

..
Did you ever find yourself thinking: that user just sent me x merits, I will go through his/her post history and find something to merit? That thought has often popped into my head, and I have indeed done it a few times myself.

When you merit someone who just merited you, do you feel good doing it?
Do you feel like it looks like an agreed exchange, even if it isn't?
Do you think it's not a proper use of the merit system?

Hell no! I never merit someone just because he merited me and especially never went to the user's post history to merit his posts just because he cheered me with his merits. If anyone is doing that then that's not a proper use of merit system because that restricts the natural flow of merits and from what I know occasionally leads to the creation of merit cycling clubs. 

But I won't say I am the best example when it comes to using the merits in right way. I have this bad habit of excessively meriting the posts made in the threads which I personally started. Nevertheless, forums are the kind of conglomerates where different users from different background socially interact differently. Everyone can have his/her own way of using the merits. As far as the user isn't abusing the merit system, there isn't much of a problem in sending mutually inclusive merits.

[LoyceV]

~ and especially never went to the user's post history to merit his posts just because he cheered me with his merits. If anyone is doing that then that's not a proper use of merit system because that restricts the natural flow of merits and from what I know occasionally leads to the creation of merit cycling clubs. 

As a proud (and first) member of the Foxpup Merit Cycling Club, and a Merit source with a load of sMerit to get rid of, I must say I'm sometimes "guilty" of checking someone's post history to Merit post. For instance when they only need 30 to ranking up, or just because the user got on my radar.
I don't think that's a bad thing, and since I'm still a Merit source after sending 19265 sMerit, Admin seems to agree.

I get that many users "return the favour" for Meriting them, and I'm pretty sure people have Merited me just because I merited them. But that's also quite natural to do. As long as it's not excessive, I don't really mind.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Did you ever find yourself thinking: that user just sent me x merits, I will go through his/her post history and find something to merit? That thought has often popped into my head, and I have indeed done it a few times myself.

No.  In fact, when I realize that I've earned some merits I rarely even bother to look to see who sent them.  And as a merit source, that's a good thing; I don't really want to know who sent me merits, nor do I ever feel like repaying anyone for meriting my posts--that would be an abuse of the merit system for a merit source to do that. 

For someone who's not a merit source, you can do whatever you like with your sMerits as long as you're not selling them or trading them or whatever.  I don't see any problem with the average user meriting someone who had given them merits, though it isn't necessary.  Ideally you should be giving merits to posts that grab your eye and not as a thank-you for whatever.

[icopress]

....... Ideally you should be giving merits to posts that grab your eye and not as a thank-you for whatever.

For me personally, all posts are divided mainly into two categories ... A message that was useful for me personally, or a post that was spent a lot of time (I saw posts that have a really complex bbcode structure, and this does not take into account the content). In some cases, I can rate the post based on whether this information will be useful to me in the future, I periodically use the "Merit:" tab as a navigator for the posts that I Merited.

I get that many users "return the favour" for Meriting them, and I'm pretty sure people have Merited me just because I merited them. But that's also quite natural to do. As long as it's not excessive, I don't really mind.

You are right, (and it depends on nurture) at first I also had a feeling of "mutual appreciation", but this feeling quickly passed due to the fact that I experienced a different feeling .. The feeling when you see a very, very valuable post, but you don't merit it, because you are empty ...

[bitmover]

When you merit someone who just merited you, do you feel good doing it?
Do you feel like it looks like an agreed exchange, even if it isn't?
Do you think it's not a proper use of the merit system?

Even if you merit a post that clearly deserves to be awarded, you didn't come across it naturally. You searched for it intentionally. I am curious what other users think about this.

Imagine you are talking in the real world with somebody.

You say something, your friend liked what you said.
He answered, and his answered makes a lot of sense and you like that too.

Seems like a normal conversation, isn't it? In this forum, is that happens, they would probably merit each other.

I merit all posts I like. IMO, If the author sent or not merit to me it shouldn't have an influence over my merit distribution.

[suchmoon]

I often go through post histories looking for posts to merit, particularly if it's a user I haven't noticed before. I don't think I have done this with users who merited me, not on purpose anyway, but the point is that just by chance it probably happened many times over the last 3 years. It shouldn't matter. We shouldn't avoid meriting good posts for some superficial reason ("what will people think about this") but pretty much by definition we're meriting posts that we read, which means we're likely to post in those same threads where we send merit, which means other posters/readers in those threads - including ones we merited or will merit - are likely to read our posts and merit us. Don't overthink this.

[LTU_btc]

No, I never felt obligated to give merits to someone who merited me. But sometimes I give merit to someone who merited me in previous post. Not because I feel obligated or something, but simply because I like this post, it expand my point of view or somply correct me if I said something wrong. But I don't through history of posts to find merit worthy posts.
In early monthos of merit sysyem thought that such merit exchange may look a bit fishy and may be considered as merit abuse, but now I don't think so. Unless such thing repeats multiple times between same users.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I really don’t see an issue with it as long as you merit a constructive post of theirs back. Most of us are very senior members any way (Legendary Members) so we gain absolutely nothing by trading merit. The forum is one big merit cycling factory any way.

If somebody merit’s you & you take a look through their post history & return the compliment (to a constructive post) there is no problem at all imo.

It isn’t like you’re going to be meriting third world shit posters is it, they don’t receive any merit in the first place so you can’t send them one back as they have none to send in the first place

There are a lot more problems created by much darker people here than sending somebody a merit in response to receiving one.

[notblox1]

Sometimes I did check members who sent me merits, then I check back their post history and if I find some interesting post and if I notice they need merits for ranking up, I may reward him with merit but that is not something I always do and I don't feel obligated at all.

[Laudanum]

I really don’t see an issue with it as long as you merit a constructive post of theirs back. Most of us are very senior members any way (Legendary Members) so we gain absolutely nothing by trading merit. The forum is one big merit cycling factory any way.

If somebody merit’s you & you take a look through their post history & return the compliment (to a constructive post) there is no problem at all imo.

It isn’t like you’re going to be meriting third world shit posters is it, they don’t receive any merit in the first place so you can’t send them one back as they have none to send in the first place

There are a lot more problems created by much darker people here than sending somebody a merit in response to receiving one.

Well rewarding people with merits or with trust includes as we know has a lot of other benefits aside from ranking up.
Like having control over the trust system, ensuring the merit requirement per month for certain sig campaigns etc etc
Can be used as leverage to entice of lure other members to support certain agendas or help protect certain sponsors from flags etc.
You also have the new merit volume button on the alt board.
Merit cancer has spread into far more than rank.

To the answer the question. 

If you consider their post " good  " you get to give it merits? What part isn't clear?

Other peoples opinion or any other factor is irrelevant. If the post is clearly a worthless or dangerous shit post is irrelevant.
So long as you claim you believe it is a " good " post nothing else matters. If you suddenly have the threshold of "good" Lowered due to them giving you merit really is irrelevant.

I mean smart abusers are not going to be the most obvious either. Although after a lengthy period it will become obvious when all of their top 20 fans and recipients are all stacked full of each other.

So if you want to give them merits in return straight away, then that is fine. I very much doubt the timeframe is important.
The entire merit system is clearly just a pal points type of thing for the majority of the members in meta anyway.
I think even considering if a certain strategy or impulse to allocate merits is " acceptable " could only come from someone who doesnt understand how the majority of merits are dished out.

[SFR10]

Did you ever find yourself thinking: that user just sent me x merits, I will go through his/her post history and find something to merit?

Nope, it feels unnatural to hunt for a post in someone else's post history just for the sake of meriting back one of their posts, but if I come across their posts in the exact thread that I've received merits from, I wouldn't mind giving some if I found their post to be high-quality or useful ^{[I've done this in the past]}.

When you merit someone who just merited you, do you feel good doing it?

I don't care for the first part but despite my initial behavior ^{[I rarely gave merits back then]} upon its implementation ^[merit], it gives me a little joy to see I'm at zero sMerit from time to time ^{[I was hoarding them back then due to my own standards but since then, I've learned to lower my standards/expectations]}.

[Daniel91]

Very interesting question.
We all have the freedom to give merits according to our subjective feeling and thinking, there is no concrete rules.
The only thing that is explicitly forbidden is trading and selling merits.
Personally, I don’t particularly care who gives me the merits nor do I look at his history on the forum.
I have my own criteria for giving merits that I follow.
I look at the quality of the post, whether it contributes to the forum or is a constructive post.

[Steamtyme]

You're overthinking merit.

No matter the reason. If you feel they deserve a merit then merit them. Doesn't need to be anything more or less than that. Who cares if they merited you in an attempt to get you to decide to go through their post history (I still think this is overthinking it), if you uncover merit worthy posts distribute them.

If someone merits you and you see merit worthy posts in the thread then go ahead and merit them. Are you afraid of offending whatever bellowing troll is inundating the forum?? If not, don't worry.

I really think people fear what forum drama creates entirely to much. If you aren't doing anything greasy or conniving then carry on as is. If someone accuses you of something you know there is no basis.

[Timelord2067]

There's certainly examples of merit/trust abuse where two or more users gift each other merits on the same day e.g. ten sent then five received back around the same time.

For me personally I tend to hand out the merits to as many people as possible which is reflected in my merit circle score of 355 which gives me a ranking of 80.

Merit me and I'll pay it forward.

[DdmrDdmr]

Looking at the question from an objective point of view, that is to say, through number that lack a context, it does happen a fair share.

For example, going over all my historical received 2.608 TXs, I’ve merited "back" the Meriter on:

32 occasions within the hour (1,23% over received TXs)
408 occasions within 24 hours (15,64% over received TXs)
605 occasions within 48 hours (23,20% over received TXs)
(over 48 hours is less prone to a potential cause/effect, so 'im not looking into that)

I haven’t gone down any further to see the detail of who I merited on those occasions, but many are likely from my local board, where a reduced set of poster are active, get merited, and thus causality is (wrongly) inferable due to the group of posters there being small and fairly decent. That actually was the trigger for me to award small quantities, that only build-up through recurrence of reasonable posting participation, and not mere presence.

Additionally, the more engaged one is on the forum, both in terms of online time and reacting to received notifications, and the more available sMerits one has, probably the more likely and quickly for these “returns” to happen. Not due to intention in many cases, but related to areas of affinity and reasonable posting content.
 
Full dataset, ordered by nTxReciprocal_48h descending, where the column represents the number of times a given profile merited back the same person after being merited within 48 hours (likewise for 24 and 1 hour columns):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uS72R-MDnMAcpWgBCHw0yfoBEYfGIYZnNHzI71lfAS8/edit?usp=sharing

Fastest way to search: select "name" column -> <CTRL+F>

[lovesmayfamilis]

Well, there are those here who really have a good messaging history, and so it's only natural that merit doesn't matter to many.
But not everyone on the forum is so honest and unselfish.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;u=2381968
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;u=2521454
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;u=2648561

Our bounty hunters will never give their merits to a stranger. It will fly to someone familiar, brother, relative, friend. Indeed, for a bounty hunter, merit is recognition of participation in the bounty, and the more accounts they have, the fatter the prey.
Again, meritsours are specifically looking for good posts, and they kind of even need to do it. And for ordinary users, it is better to treat merit more simply. A good joke deserves merit, too.