Lamentations of a newbie [ Activity increase spam and shit post]

[Magicalking]

I have been a member of the bitcointalk forum since June 16. I must confess the forum is very addictive. I find myself reading up all I can to improve. As I result I post less and read more but this comes at a cost and a disadvantage because of my post history my activity is low.  Even though I have a merit I remain a newbie.
 understand the merit system and appreciate the wisdom behind it. The activity period however promotes spamming at beginner level because of the need to rank up. I humbly suggest that the activity system should be reviewed, instead of counting the number of post per activity period it should be the amount of time invested in the forum. Thank you

I would like to create a poll for this. Please how do I do that?

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

If you are suggesting a change in something related to the forum, the more fitting board would be Meta rather than Beginners & Help.

The Activity is the lesser of the two parameters implicate in ranking-up (Merit,Activity), and is by far the simplest to achieve. You’ve barely been on the forum enough time to appreciate that Activity actually grows pretty slow, and is capped to 14 points per fortnight in broad terms. It will take many more posts for the common forum member to obtain Merits than to obtain Activity, so I would not really consider Activity as a contributor to spam (by that rule of thumb, Merits would be a far greater contributer).

On the other hand, logged-in time on the forum is easy to rig. I could leave a process performing queries every minute 24/7 pretty easily, and multiple while at it. It does not equate learning the ropes of the forum, and far less being able to post decent enough content.

See "most time online" here for example: Forum Stats


Polls are created using "post new poll", right next to "new topic" (see https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=help;page=post#newpoll)

[Masplanc]

I have been a member of the bitcointalk forum since June 16. I must confess the forum is very addictive. I find myself reading up all I can to improve. As I result I post less and read more but this comes at a cost and a disadvantage because of my post history my activity is low.  Even though I have a merit I remain a newbie.
 understand the merit system and appreciate the wisdom behind it. The activity period however promotes spamming at beginner level because of the need to rank up. I humbly suggest that the activity system should be reviewed, instead of counting the number of post per activity period it should be the amount of time invested in the forum. Thank you

I would like to create a poll for this. Please how do I do that?

The purpose of the activity system is to show the works of a member in the forum and if the activities of a member is quality it attracts merits .if the activity system should be review and be replaced by time invested in the forum it will not make any sense by being active in the forum and not contributing to the forum .

[tranthidung]

The activity period however promotes spamming at beginner level because of the need to rank up. I humbly suggest that the activity system should be reviewed, instead of counting the number of post per activity period it should be the amount of time invested in the forum.

Brand new to newbie members can not spam because they are limited and theymos does not want to have more newbie jail. Newbies have PM limit too.

• Brandnew - newbie: 6 minutes between 2 consecutive posts, from post #1 to post #15
• After having 15 posts, and it is counted to activity point (15 activity), the waiting time will be reduced to 1.5 minutes.

Sources

• Suggesting this: BrandNew account limits
• Enhanced newbie restrictions & requirements
• New PM limits

Code:

waittime = 360;
if(activity >= 15)
        waittime = (int)(90 - activity);
if(activity >= 60)
        waittime=(int)(34.7586 - (0.0793103 * activity));
if(activity >= 100)
        waittime = max((int)(14-(activity/50)), 4);

One reason that I was hesitant to do this before is that there are an awful lot of newbie restrictions, and I don't want the forum to be unwelcoming to good newbies. I'll think about tying some of those to activity instead of rank in the future.

[Magicalking]

<…>

If you are suggesting a change in something related to the forum, the more fitting board would be Meta rather than Beginners & Help.

The Activity is the lesser of the two parameters implicate in ranking-up (Merit,Activity), and is by far the simplest to achieve. You’ve barely been on the forum enough time to appreciate that Activity actually grows pretty slow, and is capped to 14 points per fortnight in broad terms. It will take many more posts for the common forum member to obtain Merits than to obtain Activity, so I would not really consider Activity as a contributor to spam (by that rule of thumb, Merits would be a far greater contributer).

On the other hand, logged-in time on the forum is easy to rig. I could leave a process performing queries every minute 24/7 pretty easily, and multiple while at it. It does not equate learning the ropes of the forum, and far less being able to post decent enough content.

See "most time online" here for example: Forum Stats


Polls are created using "post new poll", right next to "new topic" (see https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=help;page=post#newpoll)

Thank you for your input. I didn't see it from this lens. I guess we learn everyday. There is a lot of things I am still struggling to understand. From your explanation I see the activity system is not so much as a greater evil as I thought.

[Charles-Tim]

Thank you for your input. I didn't see it from this lens. I guess we learn everyday. There is a lot of things I am still struggling to understand. From your explanation I see the activity system is not so much as a greater evil as I thought.

Yes, the activity and merit system are just perfect. It will be preferable and perfect for newbies to try and be patient before posting a thread about any improvement on this forum, at least be a full member. At the time, you will notice what you were thinking otherwise before is rightly implemented on this forum.

Normally, if a newbie start posting, the activity will be counting along until after 14 successful posts, that is exactly what you meant, but after 14 posts, you will notice it is no more counting like what you are thinking, you still have 13 posts, that is the reason you do not know yet. After 14th post, it will only count every 14 days, even if newbie is posting often, when the activity is no more counting, he will have to stop if you think it can result to spamming. But, yet, I did not see how this will result to spamming as merit is what most newbies are after.

[tranthidung]

Normally, if a newbie start posting, the activity will be counting along until after 14 successful posts, that is exactly what you meant, but after 14 posts, you will notice it is no more counting like what you are thinking, you still have 13 posts, that is the reason you do not know yet. After 14th post, it will only count every 14 days, even if newbie is posting often, when the activity is no more counting, he will have to stop if you think it can result to spamming.

I am not actually understand what you write.
Simply said, activity is capped at 14 for each 14-days period. You post more than 14 posts within 14 days, a max activity point you have is only 14, not more.

The exception is you post 1 post in each 14-days period to mark that period, then another one for a next period and be inactive for a while. Few months later, you are active again, make 26 posts within a day. When the 1hour-counting is completed, you will get 26 more activity points in 1 hour.

Activity point is counted and updated every hour (perhaps). It seems what you misunderstood.

• FAQ: Everything you need to know about forum 'activity, account ranks and merit
• It is a guide from a global moderator about activity, merit, ranks, etc. A good source to read.

Can I get more than 14 activity in two week period?

No. However, you can technically get more than 14 activity in a fortnight if you sign up in between periods, but you can't get more than 14 activity in a fortnightly period. For instance, if the period starts on a Wednesday and you sign up on Tuesday you can get 14 points on Tuesday and another 14 on Wednesday providing the period has started. You will then have 28 activity points but won't be able to get any more until two weeks' time when the new period starts.

[BIT-BENDER]

I have been a member of the bitcointalk forum since June 16. I must confess the forum is very addictive. I find myself reading up all I can to improve. As I result I post less and read more but this comes at a cost and a disadvantage because of my post history my activity is low.  Even though I have a merit I remain a newbie.
 

You caught my interest when you said you read, and I want to understand you don't read frustratingly or without understand, reading and trying to have knowledge won't stop your post, the most merited and most knowledgeable, with all due respect to everyone, has alot of post,
How can you get more post? Contribute what you understand or from the reading or what you don't understand, do research post and create a topic out of it, this can engage members, and if you are lost in the post am sure there is a correction reply for you.

[skarais]

I have been a member of the bitcointalk forum since June 16. I must confess the forum is very addictive. I find myself reading up all I can to improve. As I result I post less and read more but this comes at a cost and a disadvantage because of my post history my activity is low.  Even though I have a merit I remain a newbie.

One thing that set you apart from other beginners is that you read more and write less. At the same level, many other beginner post earnestly to make it easier for them to adapt to the forum while learning thing that give them knowledge. Asking question and engaging in various discussion will pave the way and insight for him to become a knowledgeable user. I don't think you are a newbie who came in without knowledge of forum, activity and merit after I read your first post history. So take it easy, the system already on the forums is pretty much perfect and there's no one to blame.

But if you really have suggestions that you need to share in the forum regarding the applicable system issues, then @DdmrDdmr has suggested you start in meta. Your addiction to reading and being on forum is much appreciated and in the end I hope you enjoy the whole process.

[CryptocurencyKing]

Very thoughtful of you to have suggested that, it doesn't mean your right neither can we completely say your wrong but, there is one issue to that fact which is, the possibility of a user staying online without even reading at all. All it takes is to tick the stay signed in and live your network or data service on! Its a problem because, you can't tell what is been down by the user.

Even if your to redirect it towards topic or pages viewed, there is no certification that, the user actually read the contents on the boards.
Spamming is very.uch discouraged and that's why, we've got moderators and concerned users to detect and report spams when found for appropriate actions.

You posting doesn't just help to boost your activities, its a proof or participation and shows as to how much you grab also, it goes about to educate some user. So, its a necessity and the system works just fine.

[Darker45]

The activity period however promotes spamming at beginner level because of the need to rank up.

There is actually no need to rank up. The lessons one could get as a newbie are precisely the same lessons a jr. member, full member, and even a legendary member could have. Moreover, there are no sections, boards, sub-boards, threads, topics, and so on that are restricted to lower rank members. In other words, if you said that you were addicted and has improved because of what you've read, then rank is immaterial. You don't have to post a lot in order to access the next interesting thread. Why does it have to be a disadvantage if your activity is low? Unless if you are looking forward to the day you could join signature campaigns, but that's not what you are talking about here, right?

[libert19]

Although it can be improved but there is no dire need for it either, it takes about month to reach activity required for jr member, whatever merits you earn during newbie phase will help later anyway.

[UserU]

There is actually no need to rank up. The lessons one could get as a newbie are precisely the same lessons a jr. member, full member, and even a legendary member could have. Moreover, there are no sections, boards, sub-boards, threads, topics, and so on that are restricted to lower rank members. In other words, if you said that you were addicted and has improved because of what you've read, then rank is immaterial. You don't have to post a lot in order to access the next interesting thread. Why does it have to be a disadvantage if your activity is low? Unless if you are looking forward to the day you could join signature campaigns, but that's not what you are talking about here, right?

There are; Serious Discussions and Ivory Towers subforums that are accessible to both Jr Members and Full Members onwards respectively.

[Magicalking]

Unless if you are looking forward to the day you could join signature campaigns, but that's not what you are talking about here, right?

This is exactly why I need to rank up. The sarcasm, newbies are looked down upon even though everyone says its not true. Your statement proves the fact. You believe every newbie is here for bounty and signature campaign ( making money is the only aim of newbie). Newbies are unconsciously stereotyped and put in a box by the forum.

[Lucius]

This is exactly why I need to rank up. The sarcasm, newbies are looked down upon even though everyone says its not true. Your statement proves the fact. You believe every newbie is here for bounty and signature campaign ( making money is the only aim of newbie). Newbies are unconsciously stereotyped and put in a box by the forum.

You don’t need to generalize with things like that, because not all people are the same and they don’t come to this forum with the same intentions. It is true that some get the information that a forum is a place where they can make money and that they register just for that, but there are also people who just want to learn something, or want to offer some service of their own.

As for ranking, you could already be Jr.Member - I don't understand why it's a problem to write at least one post a day and achieve the necessary activity? There are a lot of members who registered a few months ago and have already reached Member ranks without any major problems - all thanks to the members who support them in that.

You don't believe that's the case? Maybe take a look at this topic -> [TOP-200] Members who support newbies - Thanks!

[TheNineClub]

I'm not yet sold on the hole merit and rank system. Sure, at the time it was probably a good step forward from the previous system, but what this brought on is a bunch of new people asking questions on how to rank up or earn merits, rather than asking good quality questions that will enhance their knowledge of crypto and make them a valuable contributor to the forum.

[Rikafip]

I humbly suggest that the activity system should be reviewed, instead of counting the number of post per activity period it should be the amount of time invested in the forum. Thank you

And how exactly would "amount of time invested in the forum" make it any better than a current system? There are plenty of useless leechers on the forum whose sole purpose is working on altcoin campaigns, and they probably spend quite a lot of time on the forum.

Before giving advices how to improve forum just a few weeks after you registered, please take your time to learn ins & outs first.

I'm not yet sold on the hole merit and rank system. Sure, at the time it was probably a good step forward from the previous system, but what this brought on is a bunch of new people asking questions on how to rank up or earn merits, rather than asking good quality questions that will enhance their knowledge of crypto and make them a valuable contributor to the forum.

Afaik, point of merit system was to make it harder for spammers and shitposters to rank up, and I think it did a decent job. Sure, there are people that will try to abuse the system, but still huge majority of shitposters won't be able to pass the Member rank, let alone those highest ones.

[Coyster]

I'm not yet sold on the hole merit and rank system. Sure, at the time it was probably a good step forward from the previous system, but what this brought on is a bunch of new people asking questions on how to rank up or earn merits, rather than asking good quality questions that will enhance their knowledge of crypto and make them a valuable contributor to the forum.

This is not true, at least in my own opinion. If the merit system is to be truncated today, users, especially the newcomers would still ask whichever questions they want to ask, it'll prolly not be about merits, but it could as well be about any other thing unimportant or trivial, they could do that to spike their activity points and rank up, which was how things worked prior to the introduction of a merit system.

But in this (new) system, asking questions, be it about merit or not wouldn't help any user rank up, notwithstanding how many times they ask or how many activities they have gained by just posting without any real energy, zest or enthusiasm, but the difference with the merit system is that, users get to find out early enough that, except they aren't really concerned about merits/ranking up (which is totally fine), they'll not rank up without a considerable amount of effort, it must not be an awful lot, but at least something to show they want to have a heightened knowledge of crypto, thus contrary to what your post suggest, I think many contributions the forum gets from good users (mostly users who came after the system) stemmed out of their awareness that there was a merit system in place.

[nutildah]

Newbies are unconsciously stereotyped and put in a box by the forum.

You're not a newbie though, and I already explained that to your other account.

You're the same shitposter that created a bunch of accounts that have been flooding Meta and Beginners and Help with nonsense, trying way too hard to pick up some pity merits.

There's so many things wrong with this being your second post to the forum ever, I don't know where to start:

Congratulations OP, I'm new to the forum and haven't made much of a contribution yet. I have mostly been reading what high ranking members like yourself have been posting and trying to learn how all this works. So far I have learnt how to sign a message thanks to @OgNasty. I spent more time reading scam accusations and reports and now I can say for a fact that I am invisible to scammers and their tricks thanks to @Coolcryptovator, @Ratimov, @lovesmayfamilis, @igehh and other scam busters in the forum. There are things I still want to learn like understanding blockchain technology, Nfts, how to spot good coins to buy ( the information in trading section is so diverse and often contradicting which leaves me confused)  and so on. I hope you all can assist me in my journey ahead. Thank you. Once again congratulations to you OP

A lot of people might look at this and think, "What's the problem? This person obviously invested some time learning about the forum before writing a post."

To me that is the problem: that's exactly the intended opinion that is being crafted with this message, and its nothing beyond that.

Everything about this account screams Sockpuppet.

Have a terrific afternoon everybody.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The activity period however promotes spamming at beginner level because of the need to rank up. I humbly suggest that the activity system should be reviewed, instead of counting the number of post per activity period it should be the amount of time invested in the forum.

The activity system is the least of this forum's worries as far as shitposting goes.  Yes, it's probably true that many newbies make a bunch of garbage posts each day in order to reach Jr. Member, but they still have to earn 1 merit if I'm not mistaken, and that can be a pain in the ass for any of them who don't know how to form coherent sentences.

The activity aspect of bitcointalk has always seemed like an odd thing to me, as I've never seen anything like it on other forums.  But be that as it may, I don't think it needs changing because I don't think it's the root cause of most of bitcointalk's problems.  Same thing with the merit system. 

OP, I'm glad you find this forum fascinating and believe me I understand why you're frustrated.  When I registered here, there wasn't a merit system and there were so many one-line shitposts spread out across so many sections that trying to make a good post that members would read was almost a joke.  There were so many account farmers that you'd have threads in which only a bunch of alt accounts owned by the same person would be posting.  And so on--my point is that the bitcointalk you see right now is much different than it was prior to 2018 when the merit system was introduced.  That cut down a lot of the BS I just mentioned, and IMO things are much better than they used to be.  Perfect?  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  But definitely improved.