Meriting a user who just merited you

[Thanos01]

well, in my point of view i think if you got interested by the member who merited you and you checked his post/finds some worthy posts to merit that's totally fine and this doesn't considered a merit exchange, and even if it is you will have always your answer to defend on your self .

what i don't like about the merit system is there in some sections in the forum, there is some members making like a crew to exchange merits without making any suspicions while other new members in the section especially newbie are getting zero merits which i found it not fair .

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[Pmalek]

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...

I wouldn't call it a terrible or abusive usage of the merit system especially if you end up meriting a post that deserves the merits and has received some regardless of the merits you sent. A bit unorthodox and unusual, sure.

I have this bad habit of excessively meriting the posts made in the threads which I personally started.

I don't see a problem in that either unless the difference is really huge. I merit good posts in my threads as well, but just because I visit my threads more often than some other threads.

Are you afraid of offending whatever bellowing troll is inundating the forum?? If not, don't worry.

I couldn't care less. I was just interested how others think. And it seems to me that certain users have the same 'doubts' and 'uncertainties' as I do sometimes. Not an issue, just an interesting point of discussion. 

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No idea why I didn't think of you before. I initially had the idea to include some stats showing members who return a received merit to the sender and how fast they do it. Since I have no programming skills, I PMed a few users and asked if stats like that are available. Unfortunately, you weren't on my list. Turns out, you had the data all along.

what i don't like about the merit system is there in some sections in the forum, there is some members making like a crew to exchange merits without making any suspicions while other new members in the section especially newbie are getting zero merits which i found it not fair .

Where exactly do you see this take place?

[lovesmayfamilis]

what i don't like about the merit system is there in some sections in the forum, there is some members making like a crew to exchange merits without making any suspicions while other new members in the section especially newbie are getting zero merits which i found it not fair .

Where exactly do you see this take place?

Take a closer look at the links I gave. Do you see many people? This is one farm that exchanges merits.

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

[LoyceV]

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)

Thanks for making this list! Pmalek asked me before he created this topic but I didn't have the time.
Considering how many Merit transactions I've sent and received, I'm not disappointed at all with 1.06%, 7.04% and 11.18% within 1, 24 and 48 hours respectively!

[Thanos01]

what i don't like about the merit system is there in some sections in the forum, there is some members making like a crew to exchange merits without making any suspicions while other new members in the section especially newbie are getting zero merits which i found it not fair .

Where exactly do you see this take place?

Take a closer look at the links I gave. Do you see many people? This is one farm that exchanges merits.

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

Yeah its clearly merits exchanging, and take a look again at my post, I said many people which means more than four or five members tending to merit each other in the same section even if the posts are not that high quality, the funny thing is between their posts in the same topic, there are newbies with valuable information sometimes buy they get zero merits, I'm not saying they are helping each other in purpose but I think newbies should have their share of merits too tho.

[aoluain]

I answered no! although I have done it in the past but not
for a very long time.

Im not massively mindful of merits most of the time,
Im a minnow in the merit department and with my
sMerit I try to give them to lower ranked members than myself.

[RapTarX]

If I want to be short to answer this, I would say, "I never planned beforing meriting." I guess you got my point. Usually, I browse the forum, look for solution on different issues, share opinion and read other peoples opinion. In this procedure, if I find somethinhg interesting or of high quality, I merit them if I have available smerit to share with.

[Lordhermes]

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

There was something Suchmoon said about sending out merits, he said merit a good post not user, these quality posts might be a tutorials, solution replies, and many helpful articles irrespective of the user's rank that renders such help. Some members here had taken the habit of meriting only well recognized users/ranks which is not appropriate, they aren't meriting a post instead a user.
To me, i rarely had merit from discussing and commenting which 80% of my merits were gotten from quality topics and I got hold of whosoever had merited me which in turn I tell myself that I owe them some x amount of merit to reward them back. Seriously I can't say it's an exchange for merit but it's a reciprocating appreciation for helping you reaching a target.

[longlivecapitalism]

I don't usually go looking to merit people who have merited me because they're mostly users who already have enough merits and have a high ranking in this forum. What I look for when I have merits to give is users who are low ranking members and I personally have read posts of these users that I would wish to merit. That way I believe that I can help promote members who write good posts.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Not intentionally per se but on some occasions I have stubble upon some of my meriters as I read through the comment section and decide to just look through the users history. If fortunately for them I encountered any worthy posts in the process and do have some smerit on me, they get merited. That's just luck (preparation meets opportunity) been on their side as if that users wasn't contributing to the forum positively, the possiblity of me finding any worthy posts won't be there and therefore he/she won't get merited.

This practice isn't just for only users that merits me but also for random users I find their contributions meaningfully while reading through replies. I enjoy reviewing accounts and use the opportunity to encourage whoever is doing quite well for themselves but not getting the much attention other decent posters are getting.

On the other side, I have received severally merits in a form of appreciation I guess. Irrespective of the quality of the posts been merited, I still consider them an appreciation or attempt to get my attention as the merits comes exactly from the users that were beneficiaries of my meriting and usually it happens within minutes or hours of me meriting them.

[FinneysTrueVision]

I don't pay too close attention to the merits I receive. Good posts will naturally show up in threads and I will merit them if I have enough sMerit to award.

[Kittygalore]

Best way to deal with this problem in my humble opinion is to give back not to that person but to someone other than that person, make it a daisy chain and not a loop between two individuals, in a way you are helping others to get one step to ranking up.

[iamsheikhadil]

I agree with Loyce. The feeling that if a person has just merited me or in recent past, and even if I feel that user really made a great post, I start to think if I will be under scrutiny or something for meriting him. But it's hard to ignore the post completely, so I either wait for the post to get merited by someone else as well before meriting them, or sometimes I just close my eyes and merit it without thinking other thing

[Timelord2067]

There was something Suchmoon said about sending out merits, he said merit a good post not user,.

That user would have to unblock the 95% of the Forum and actually be less selective in the handful of favourites they merits on a regular basis before such a comment from them could be taken to be creditable...

[NeuroticFish]

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?

No. But I was thinking "I hope that he won't mind that I don't reciprocate".
However, it did happen to merit the same person's posts after getting merit, but that usually happens because I spend merit ... only if I have what to spend.

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

Sometimes it does, if the merited post is not great.
But I think that most of the time it's not. At least not in the areas I'm reading.

High activity leads to good amount of knowledge, hence to good posts. Also high activity is a requirement for merit source...
You guys are making a lot of good quality posts. Sometimes good posts of yours you see as great get under-merited and maybe that's why you are overthinking it when you receive merit? I don't know.
But I agree to this:

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.

[hugeblack]

Merit system give the person a lot of freedom to choose who deserves to send them merits, so it cannot be considered an exchange of merits unless it is anomalous and affects the rest of the members.
There are even cases of merit rotation among members that seem high and yet they are not banned.

Personally, I don't care who sent my merits to me, I open topics and send to those who deserve it.

[Welsh]

At the end of the day, my attitude is if someone deserves merit, then they should be rewarded it despite how you came about them. I've probably discovered several good posts this way, but its all normal browsing habit, rather than making a conscious decision of "They merited me, lets merit them".

I definitely don't feel obligated though, and wouldn't go out of my way to reward a poorer quality post, just because they had merited me. It is sometimes interesting, that you get merited by someone you haven't heard of, and that can sometimes lead to looking at their post history in more depth. However, I think I've got the the point where I don't really notice too much who has merited me.

[Pmalek]

I don't usually go looking to merit people who have merited me because they're mostly users who already have enough merits and have a high ranking in this forum.

A user with the highest rank deserves the same amount of merits you would give a member who is ranked lower. His rank shouldn't be a deciding factor whether you will merit him or not. I have done the same thing many times before as well in the past. If given a choice to merit a user with a lower rank and one with a higher, I picked the one who is ranked lower. But I have changed that approach, and now I merit many Legendary accounts if I like their posts. And many times I do. The only factor I consider now is if the member I am going to merit participates in the merit distribution system or not.

What I look for when I have merits to give is users who are low ranking members and I personally have read posts of these users that I would wish to merit.

Nothing wrong with that unless you intentionally neglect and overlook the posts of higher ranked members.

That way I believe that I can help promote members who write good posts.

This statement can only be correct if you don't make distinctions between the users you wish to merit based on their rank.

[GeorgeJohn]

I know that everyone on the thread is already in existence before me and I'm saying these base on my own perspective, meriting someone who merited you I think it will look as eve both are exchanging merit, but not knowing if the guidelines of the community is against it, I would like to say is not wrong to merit who merited you because I seen it as another way of showing appreciation to whom merited user, but in another way round meriting a post that does not required merit because the user merit you, I think such aspect really need a concern or call for a discussion.

[BITCOIN4X]

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.

I am the 21st user who answered "no" to the question you have asked.

The merit system that has been implemented in the forum since the beginning of 2018 has become a momentum of awakening for me to change the behavior of my posts to be more useful and quality. At first I almost always check who sent me is appropriate because personally I really want to know how people rate a quality post. But after a while I was no longer used to it because I already knew how the merit system worked.

The distribution of merit I do has nothing to do with whether they have provided merit for me or not. Whenever I get a quality post from anyone I think I deserve, I will unless I don't have sMerit. Merit should be distributed on quality posts regardless of whether they send them to us or not. This is the basic reference of the merit system in my opinion.

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

If it was a quality post, then I thought I would do it without feeling special. I have the same feeling for every merit I send others on their quality posts. If they deserve it, why not ?
 

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.

I know that account ranking is no excuse for us not send sMerit on quality posts. But sometimes I might miss a high ranking member post from merit if I find a quality post from a low ranking user just below it. But it all depends on my sMerit balance.