KNOWLEDGE IS BETTER THAN MERIT

[Daniel91]

Very well said OP.
Newbie members very often open topics in which they ask how to get merit.
My answer is always the same: learn, research and share your knowledge and experiences with other forum members.
Other members will appreciate your effort and time, and reward you with merits.
Those newbie members who first ask for merits and are not ready to offer anything in return, will receive neither measure nor respect from the forum community.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

Same thoughts as yours actually. We've seen a lot of newbies shitposting in Meta back in 2018 when the merit system was implement. Good thing that those kinds of threads already "kind of" drained out, because surely they know that they're only for the merit and not actually looking for just a natural conversation without thinking of merits.

Surely if merits does not affect rank, there would be no such thing as like that back then as we all know that there are just those users that are just here in the forum for the sake of earning.

[Oceat]

...
Surely if merits does not affect rank, there would be no such thing as like that back then as we all know that there are just those users that are just here in the forum for the sake of earning.

Having merits to be implemented first before ranking up is a huge help actually to help spammers or those who shitpost just to rank up faster. Back in the days, chronic account selling is the reason why spammers or bot keep popping up almost everyday that's why sometimes the forum can't take the loads of these and sometimes undergo on a maintenance for a couple of minutes or even an hour if I'm right.

But if you are only here to learn then you can do all of that without having a problem since you just want to read more information about how cryptocurrency/Bitcoin made by Satoshi, and the white paper, etc., then that's not a problem just be sure to read carefully the stickies and ask first if confused.

[qwertyup23]

All these being said, I wish to advise my fellow newbie's to seek for knowledge first before talking about merits. Merits should come when you make a good post, so focus on making quality and educating posts than looking for merits.

Congratulations for making this far! Always celebrate the small achievements because this will give you the motivation to do better on your next post!

Merits are the collateral of a good post. If you contribute in the forum enough that people will appreciate it, you would be getting lots of merits without even noticing it. The problem with most newbies is that they are too focused on ranking up that their post quality suffers during the process. If you focus more on gaining knowledge and sharing them, the collateral would be the merits that you will be receiving.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

Having merits to be implemented first before ranking up is a huge help actually to help spammers or those who shitpost just to rank up faster. Back in the days, chronic account selling is the reason why spammers or bot keep popping up almost everyday that's why sometimes the forum can't take the loads of these and sometimes undergo on a maintenance for a couple of minutes or even an hour if I'm right.

~

Ah yes, this too.
Back then I read that it wasn't that frowned upon too much, but due to hordes of spammers it became like something worthy to be tagged by DT members. Back in the year that I registered here (2017)  I recall a lot of accounts selling happening in here which is just insane. I am happy that merit system took care of that for goodness sake.
Moving forward, the last account selling I ever read this year is just from that donator account that put his account for sale.

[LordMiguel]

yes, the more you learn, the more you understand crypto and the more you invest in the right product. scams are increasing and making the right choice can save you a lot. Also i don't think merit pays much here. majority of the people that goes for merits are bounty hunters that hunt for bounties with bitcoin payment. i think when you are knowledgeable enough, you will make huge money from crypto. that is possible. it depends on choice.

[TheNineClub]

Knowledge should be the main focus for all newcomers. Now, I know that hunting for sig campains and playing day trader is more atractive, but in the long run, getting a good knowledge base is what will help you remain here for a long time to come. And that's the main thing, to make this a lifelong interest, not a weekend hobby.

[Eureka_07]

<snip>
All these being said, I wish to advise my fellow newbie's to seek for knowledge first before talking about merits. Merits should come when you make a good post, so focus on making quality and educating posts than looking for merits.

Actually it is pretty hard to gain merit if you do not have any enough knowledge, though some users might give you since giving merits are subjectively done, it's still rare to happen. As you can see, those that has lots of merits here are very knowledgable to a lot of things and they have really helpful and posts that has really sense.
Giving time to gather some knowledge is like investing, it is really good in the long run.

[firesurfer]

This forum uses merit to judge an individual. The merit system is used by humans and not all knowledge posts receive merit. People send it in because they feel it's worth it. Maybe just a meme or beautifully arranged sentences...

[pilosopotasyo]

CONCLUSION
All these being said, I wish to advise my fellow newbie's to seek for knowledge first before talking about merits. Merits should come when you make a good post, so focus on making quality and educating posts than looking for merits.

Yes and that should always be the case, knowledge is education and we should cherish education, merits can be requested and there are reports that some people are selling it, you cannot advance and make a profit from Cryptocurrency if you have no knowledge about Cryptocurrency, you also need knowledge on how to protect your portfolio from hacking and market trend.

[finaleshot2016]

<snip>
All these being said, I wish to advise my fellow newbie's to seek for knowledge first before talking about merits. Merits should come when you make a good post, so focus on making quality and educating posts than looking for merits.

Actually it is pretty hard to gain merit if you do not have any enough knowledge, though some users might give you since giving merits are subjectively done, it's still rare to happen. As you can see, those that has lots of merits here are very knowledgable to a lot of things and they have really helpful and posts that has really sense.
Giving time to gather some knowledge is like investing, it is really good in the long run.

That's correct; I'm going to share my experience obtaining my merits; I've spent a lot of time creating threads and content that other users may find useful. It is critical to have a basic understanding of the topic before sharing it with others in order to make the discussion more interesting than if you are unsure of what you are attempting to share.

In general, knowledge is extremely important and should be prioritized because it is the factor that will make you more successful in your endeavors.

[Lordhermes]

Knowledge should be the main focus for all newcomers. Now, I know that hunting for sig campains and playing day trader is more atractive, but in the long run, getting a good knowledge base is what will help you remain here for a long time to come. And that's the main thing, to make this a lifelong interest, not a weekend hobby.

Exactly! Some new members are not here to gain knowledge,they are basically here for signature campaign.Most of them don't also read what's in the forum,all that's very important to them is ranking up.

Having a good knowledge about how the activities here are done,and making sure that the contributions made by you are very reasonable enough.
Researching for new ideas,things that you donot understand,and asking questions in the forum in the area that seems complicating to you,will help you gain more knowledge,and make you important in the forum, than ranking up.

[Peanutswar]

Many people created an account and continuously asking how to get merit because they want to be part of signature/bounty campaigns and those just want to spam only and to earn some of them they don't really care to make a contribution to the forum, in some instances there are members would like to share, help and contribute to the forum even though they are still on the lower rank the quality of the post they have deserves to be merited. This is the reason why there are some merit sources created a thread to let them help give merits to the right ones. If you are a quality member merit is just easy to get, don't chase merit, merit will come if they think deserved it.

[DdmrDdmr]

Yes because your mission here in the first is to understand how it going in this forum and learn the rule and regulations <…>

It’s not really a mission, but rather a courtesy call (self-preservation at times too). Most are pretty logical and natural to comply with, even if you don’t read them to begin with.
Unfortunately, it seems that it’s not something people always do (I took a while), and even if they get merited, either their past catches-up, or they lose sight of some of the basis, as this stat seems to suggest:

Code:

Top senders to permabanned users, last 180 days
•	235: fillippone
•	100: Ratimov
•	57: CryptopreneurBrainboss
•	45: Welsh
•	42: DdmrDdmr
•	38: LoyceV
•	32: JayJuanGee
•	29: ETFbitcoin
•	25: OgNasty
•	21: The Pharmacist
•	20: hugeblack
•	18: Vispilio
•	15: Rruchi man
•	14: Plutosky
•	14: alexrossi
•	13: vapourminer
•	11: Quickseller
•	11: COOLCRYPTOVATOR
•	11: amishmanish
•	10: lovesmayfamilis
•	10: bitmover
•	10: paxmao
•	10: xandry
•	10: dbc23
•	10: Qunenin
•	10: NotATether
•	9: Pmalek
•	8: o_e_l_e_o
•	8: Halab
•	8: Mpamaegbu
•	8: RainbowKun
•	7: Jet Cash
•	7: CryptocurencyKing
•	6: Zilon
•	6: El duderino_
•	6: GeorgeJohn
•	6: Daniel91
•	6: cherry11800
•	6: PrimeNumber7
•	6: kxwhalexk
•	6: LFC_Bitcoin
•	5: Smartvirus
•	5: nakamura12
•	5: klarki
•	5: gbianchi
•	4: babo
•	4: sheenshane
•	4: Magicalking
•	4: kaggie
•	4: Ethan151

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topsendban

Note: The focus above is on the Receivers on (s)Merits, that at some later point get banned for whatever reason. The Senders are generally faultless in the above context. The more people they try to merit, the likelier to hit someone that is going to ultimately be banned (specially, unfortunately, if the merited profile is of a lower rank).

Edit:

<…>

To exemplify that receiving merits does now warrant getting to know your way around, and getting banned is still an open option regardless (in the context of @Gboyalhaji’s comment).

[babo]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topsendban

Note: The focus above is on the Receivers on (s)Merits, that at some later point get banned for whatever reason. The Senders are generally faultless in the above context. The more people they try to merit, the likelier to hit someone that is going to ultimately be banned (specially, unfortunately, if the merited profile is of a lower rank).

I agree with you, who sends merits cannot know if the person will be banned in the future (he is responsible for it)
so I don't understand the reason for the list you link

it makes no sense, in my opinion, but everyone is free to do what he wants

<3

[Imran232]

Yes you are right knowledge is better than merit. And you should add one more sentence which is if you can share knowledgeable thing you don't need to do anything to get merit then merit will come to you. So what do you thing am i right or not. Lots of new friends of my community ask me that how i get that much amout of merit but why they can't get. I suggest them do not post anything irrelevant, try to discussed more with constractive topic, and i follow my path my first 5-6 month i just spend my times to read post then reply. Thats why now i can easily understand any topic and share my thoughts about that. Thats why i got merit.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

All these being said, I wish to advise my fellow newbie's to seek for knowledge first before talking about merits.

The knowledge is what brings the merits, if you observe what's ongoing in the forum, you'll realize that those that are knowledgeable in specific areas are those who get merited easily because they tend to produce more quality content based on their exposure in that area. What that means is, if you want to get merited, get yourself educated.

If you try the cheat this phenomenon by plagiarizing or paraphrasing then it'll come back to hurt you later as you'll most likely get banned. Don't focus on getting merited instead focus on getting educated and also helping others with their education process in regards to their questions and you'll be merited. Merits are reward for your quality contributions so if you don't have such you won't be merited.

[fillippone]

Code:

Top senders to permabanned users, last 180 days
•	235: fillippone

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topsendban

Note: The focus above is on the Receivers on (s)Merits, that at some later point get banned for whatever reason. The Senders are generally faultless in the above context. The more people they try to merit, the likelier to hit someone that is going to ultimately be banned (specially, unfortunately, if the merited profile is of a lower rank).

Edit:

<…>

To exemplify that receiving merits does now warrant getting to know your way around, and getting banned is still an open option regardless (in the context of @Gboyalhaji’s comment).

Nevertheless, I am quite surprised topping this chart I never actually cared about as I tought  I wasn’t involved in.
A little busy with IRL stuff atm, I’m going to figure out what happened.

Edit:
Turns out acquafredda and karatma1, two profiles I had merited a lot recently, got banned.

[nakamura12]

Didn't I just mention it in my first reply in this thread that knowledge is somewhat the KEY to open a door where in this case is to receive or earn merit?. I guess newbies don't really want to read first page of this thread instead only reading the op or the last post. After all, it's what keep spammers at bay.

Nevertheless, I am quite surprised topping this chart I ne we actually cared about as I tought i wasn’t involved in.
A little busy with IRL stuff atm, I’m going to figure out what happened.

My guess is that those accounts that got banned is because of plagiarism. No doubt about it.

[fillippone]

My guess is that those accounts that got banned is because of plagiarism. No doubt about it.

Exactly, As reported in the links, both acquafredda and Kartama1 were discovered not only plagiarising, but also being alts of the same person!

I exchanged posts and merited multiple times acquafredda, and I reckon he was always providing good bitcoin-related content for the Italian board.
I also crossed the path with Kartama1, always in international boards, never had any suspicion about him being Italian, nevertheless being an alt of someone.
I didn’t bother to count or check closely on @loucev website, but I guess that the cumulated merits to those two profiles add up quite nicely to the total in @ddmrddmr chart above.
I am surprised and saddened by this, but forum rules are forum rules, and a legendary user (!!!) should know them. Actually, acquafredda being a legendary user, make all this story a little bit harsher.


Back on topic, I guess surely merits come way before merits, both on a temporal and on a logical timeline.
I expressed my view on my infamous thread:

Ranking up is possible! 2900 Merits earned in less than 12 months!My 11 Hints!

I think it’s is still a good read.