Why it's so hard to rank-up?

[Lucius]

I'm trying to imagine what the atmosphere was like then here in 2014 and few years after that. Was there so much drama or no sparks as encouragement that made you leave? If you don't mind, I would like your response on this.

I occasionally visited the forum during 2014 as a guest and I was not interested in anything except to learn more about Bitcoin, although I must admit that I was also interested in some altcoins and of course then very popular faucets. I registered in 2015, and at least as far as I remember, there was a very relaxed mood then, because Bitcoin was cheap (between $200 - $250), and some signature campaigns were literally run by bots - there was so much spam that it was immeasurable in comparison from today.

In 2017 when I came in, I observed there was so much drama and in-house fights. The forum was often tensed. Those who had confrontations, fought like it were physical exchange of blows they had as one could feel it in the harsh words used. I couldn't help but wondered what was going on. Most times I was lost in the terminologies used and couldn't make out anything that was the reason for such fights. It's good to know that it's different now. The forum is friendlier this day.

There have always been conflicts on a personal level, maybe there are fewer of them today because some members left the forum, and others realized that it was a waste of time. The forum is definitely cleaner if you take into account spam or all those alt accounts that have been banned for various reasons, but there are still conflicts, just look at the Reputation board.

However, none of that is a reason that the OP or anyone else can't progress on the forum - time is of course still a key factor, but with merits we got another challenge that the members have to overcome, which is not easy, but far from an impossible mission, which many have already proven.

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[Don Pedro Dinero]

I occasionally visited the forum during 2014 as a guest and I was not interested in anything except to learn more about Bitcoin, although I must admit that I was also interested in some altcoins and of course then very popular faucets. I registered in 2015, and at least as far as I remember, there was a very relaxed mood then, because Bitcoin was cheap (between $200 - $250), and some signature campaigns were literally run by bots - there was so much spam that it was immeasurable in comparison from today.

I registered on the forum in summer 2017 although I discovered it months before. I remember there was a serious problem with spam, as you mentioned, which ended up leading to the merit system. I suppose it's not perfect, like any other solution they might have wanted to put in place, but it alleviated a lot of the problem.

However, none of that is a reason that the OP or anyone else can't progress on the forum - time is of course still a key factor, but with merits we got another challenge that the members have to overcome, which is not easy, but far from an impossible mission, which many have already proven.

I agree. With a little effort, everyone can make progress on the forum.

[Victorik]

Higher rank means good opportunities here in the forum, but why its so hard to rank up?
Here's what I realized for almost 5 years here in the forum and still at a lower rank.

1. You can't please everybody here - Even if you create a good topic, you can't expect everyone to appreciate your work and probably will receive little to none merit since we all have different standards and qualifications before we gave out merit.

2. Being Inactive - Don't expect to rank up if you are not active especially on making good contents. I have my busy days and really not active but when I do have a task here, I always make sure to qualify for that but again, that's not enough.

3. Limited Knowledge - You can't share what you don't have, and making good topics here requires a good knowledge especially topics about helping people or a guidelines.


To cut this story short, if you really want to rank up and have a good reputation just do the opposite, stay active, learn more and expect nothing.
These are my mistakes, and I hope you won't do the same so you can be more successful here. Right now, I'm only learning with my experience and hopefully I can give something more helpful in the future.

It is difficult to rank up because people are greedy with their merits. Even when you make a quality post, they still ignore it and you get nothing. I guess that's why people like us are really not interested in ranking up. I am here first, to learn. I don't care whether I rank up or not.

[Lucius]

It is difficult to rank up because people are greedy with their merits. Even when you make a quality post, they still ignore it and you get nothing. I guess that's why people like us are really not interested in ranking up. I am here first, to learn. I don't care whether I rank up or not.

I would not agree with you, because 90% of your posts are in Altcoins boards, and even 80% of them are in Bounties, which means that you spent 90% of your time on the forum under the radar of most of those who could potentially reward you with merits. Furthermore, your post history clearly indicates that you came with a completely different intention than to learn, but it is never too late to change the way you approach the forum.

If you think you have posts that deserve to be rewarded with merits, there is also a topic for such requests -> Report unmerited good posts to Merit Source

I agree. With a little effort, everyone can make progress on the forum.

As you can see, some do not think so, although few think that the problem may be with them, and not with the forum.

[Mpamaegbu]

~snipped~

There have always been conflicts on a personal level, maybe there are fewer of them today because some members left the forum, and others realized that it was a waste of time. The forum is definitely cleaner if you take into account spam or all those alt accounts that have been banned for various reasons, but there are still conflicts, just look at the Reputation board.

Thanks for stepping in and sharing your perspective with me (and others). I guess most of those members who couldn't tolerate such attitudes/posts that caused frictions in the past are now more tolerant. As we grow and age, our sense of judgment gets tempered by real life experience and we tend to be more subtle and soft to issues. Little wonder grannies are lenient with their grandkids and annoyingly indulge them. I may be missing the mild drama you said still goes on at the Reputation section as I'm not a regular there. On the whole, I think life should be better without nagging confrontations. A little disagreement to agree is cool; it helps to straighten things up. Anything above that isn't healthy.

Again, maybe those who left are the real troublemakers 🤔

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

In some of forum sections it may be more difficult to encounter merits than others. Those more forum or bitcoin centric tend to be better off than those that altcoin related, and that is seemingly reasonable in a forum called Bitcointalk. Regardless, the content is what in general terms makes a post potentially a candidate to receiving sMerits, and I’m pretty sure that, for the most, those that do elaborate decent enough content do not have a hard time ranking-up. It does take some effort, which is not to everyone's liking.

If they do find it hard, there are always possible aids through threads here and there that review people’s posts/posting history, highlight those profiles that may need a budge in the ranking-up pipeline, or simply give some merits for some not too complex technical acomplishments related to signing messages.

When it is certainly going to be difficult is if one makes 80% of his posts on bounties, 10% in Altcoin Discussion and some more in sparse sections (see data in this external site). -> Jinx with @Lucius it seems.

Greediness, presumably to hoard sMerits, is not something I’d say is a thing. There is not real point in being "greedy" by hoarding, since one gains nothing by it (remember Merits and sMerits are not the same). There may be people less interested in the Merit System who decide not to participate in it much, but that is overly compensated by Merit Sources and others that receive plenty in their day to day, only to be selfless and distribute the rendered sMerits around.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

Hey! Kinda wished that I was in this forum that year. I might not have bought Bitcoin, but surely I would have been "more" educated towards it since my misconception back then was that Bitcoin was a coin being used in the dark web. That was what I was wrongly taught back in those years.
I usually listened to some random podcasts about the internet that year in Youtube, lol.
I have a wandering thoughts though. Were altcoins really like "worthy" in those years or were they just mostly shitcoins that we get these days? I am totally curious.

[Lucius]

Thanks for stepping in and sharing your perspective with me (and others).
---
Again, maybe those who left are the real troublemakers 🤔

You're welcome

However, I want to emphasize that this is just seeing the forum from my perspective, because in the beginning I spent most of my time in Micro Earnings and some other boards, a little outside the important things that were happening on the forum. Maybe you would be surprised if you looked at the post history of some of today's famous members, because most of us started very modestly, as befits true beginners.

I don't want to say that those who left were the ones who caused problems, but that they were just personalities who were different from the majority, and that their leaving the forum might have been a good thing for some, but I think we lost members who were also very important for this forum.

~snip~
I have a wandering thoughts though. Were altcoins really like "worthy" in those years or were they just mostly shitcoins that we get these days? I am totally curious.

From the perspective of that time and my own, they seemed to have some value, but for an inexperienced beginner, everything looks promising. The first coins that I somehow earned were actually altcoins, so I was even involved in a project whose owner was one of the more famous members of the forum, but that project, like many others, failed.

Over time, I realized that only Bitcoin has a constant, and that everything else is just an illusion sold by fog sellers, as is the case even today. I can't say that everything from that period was wasted time, because 1000 Dogecoins were worth only about $0.14 then, and you could earn them very easily on faucets - for those who saved them, they could make a very significant profit.

[_BlackStar]

I don't want to say that those who left were the ones who caused problems, but that they were just personalities who were different from the majority, and that their leaving the forum might have been a good thing for some, but I think we lost members who were also very important for this forum.

You remind me of this one user, his departure is highly expected by most cheaters and scammers, so he is really a concern for rule breakers. Because Lauda was such an important member, his passing will always be remembered ^{[that's what I think].}

• Goodbye, world!

But on the other hand, one is welcome to leave without hesitation when they are not a very important member.

• I'm leaving here, goodbye friends!

[BD Crypto]

Ranking up is not so hard when you have a lot of knowledge about crypto currency and the Blockchain technology.When you know how to help others in this forum and how to share important updates you will be appreciated by receiving a lot of merits. First learn and then share your knowledge with forum users.

[Issa56]

It is difficult to rank up because people are greedy with their merits. Even when you make a quality post, they still ignore it and you get nothing. I guess that's why people like us are really not interested in ranking up. I am here first, to learn. I don't care whether I rank up or not.

Am suprise seeing this post from you, do you think people having merits are greedy? I checked your post history but I didn't see any quality post that you did and is not merited, all I can see is bounty report and some comments you make just because you are participating in bounty signature campaign, I think you should start making positive impact to the forum and see if you won't get merit. You don't expect people to merit bounty report or two line posts you are making.
Also you said you are not on the forum to rank up, you are in the forum to learn, but all I can see in your post history is just bounty report, so am sure you are not on the forum to learn but to earn money. Am not saying participating in bounty is bad, but you can be participating in bounty and still be making quality posts that will help the forum.

[decodx]

It is difficult to rank up because people are greedy with their merits. Even when you make a quality post, they still ignore it and you get nothing. I guess that's why people like us are really not interested in ranking up. I am here first, to learn. I don't care whether I rank up or not.

I strongly disagree with you. It's not hard to rank up here, and it's not true that members are greedy with their merits. Take me for example - I joined the forum two years ago and was recently promoted to Hero member rank. You've been here for four years, but in that time you haven't moved beyond Newbie member rank. Can you spot the difference between us in terms of our forum activity?

This obviously shows that the senior forum members care about young members and recognize those who are most helpful in the forums. I'm sure that if you join the discussions and become active, you will be recognized and promoted fairly soon. But that won't happen if you continue to post only bounty reports, which is what you've mostly done so far. The forum is about helping people, and you should join the discussions with your own experiences to share. That will help you get ranked up faster than if you keep posting only bounty reports.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

I can somehow relate when I first started I even recall earning some shit tokens back in 2017 which was my year of starting in crypto. Come to think of it, I subconsciously earned some meme coin during those times. One token I remembered was Sparta (or Spartan?), lol. I am not sure anymore where those tokens went since my old brain could not keep track on how much meme coins I tried to pursue.
I also had the thoughts of buying Doge, though I did not manage to find any faucets. I kinda wished I experienced those years in crypto in your perspective, but hey since I went full Bitcoin holder, it is never too late to buy one.

[imamusma]

I strongly disagree with you. It's not hard to rank up here, and it's not true that members are greedy with their merits. Take me for example - I joined the forum two years ago and was recently promoted to Hero member rank. You've been here for four years, but in that time you haven't moved beyond Newbie member rank. Can you spot the difference between us in terms of our forum activity?

I think you are right, but I disagree if you think all users will have the same experience on this forum. Especially rankings after the merit system was introduced, it could only be achieved by users who were willing and able to post something quality. However when users were unwilling and unable to do so, then they would have hard time rank up. So that should be the reason why one thought about the difficulty of rank up nowadays.

This obviously shows that the senior forum members care about young members and recognize those who are most helpful in the forums. I'm sure that if you join the discussions and become active, you will be recognized and promoted fairly soon.

Quality posters will be rewarded, they won't have much trouble getting merit and rankings. But I can say that every user should try to do the best they can and let other users judge the quality of their posts. I also agree that engaging in good discussion increases the chances of gaining knowledge and merit, and that is something that is often the habit of quality posters as far as I know.

[Lucius]

You remind me of this one user, his departure is highly expected by most cheaters and scammers, so he is really a concern for rule breakers. Because Lauda was such an important member, his passing will always be remembered ^{[that's what I think].}

Yes, after all, such users were valuable assets for the forum in the fight against scammers and spammers for many years, and I personally participated in 2 signature campaigns managed by Lauda and both were at the highest level, similar to today's CM. Therefore, my opinion is that we should not look at how good/bad a user is towards someone individually, but how good he is for the forum as a whole.

I can somehow relate when I first started I even recall earning some shit tokens back in 2017 which was my year of starting in crypto.--- I kinda wished I experienced those years in crypto in your perspective, but hey since I went full Bitcoin holder, it is never too late to buy one.

A lot has changed since then, even when it comes to the faucets with which I actually earned my first Bitcoin. Back then, there were no irritating short links and claiming rewards was quite simple, but also very fast if you used a good faucet rotator - in less than 1 hour you could earn at least 100 000 satoshis, and with active referrals, even 500 000 satoshis per day. I remember a Russian site that was something like a PTC with faucets, and there I often used to get 200 000 satoshis in one click - which of course was not much considering the price of Bitcoin in those days of only $200+.

[First Registration]

As much as I know at this young age. Actually ranking up is not a difficult matter. To rank up, you have to have a lot of knowledge in all subjects. I see bitcointalk forum, except for altcoin board, you get a lot of merit if you post or reply with good quality. We who are juniors always wait for good quality posts from senior members.

[_BlackStar]

Therefore, my opinion is that we should not look at how good/bad a user is towards someone individually, but how good he is for the forum as a whole.

Of course, and I can say that it is a real contribution to the forum. His presence on the forum had a positive impact, his willingness to help the forum was expected and appreciated regardless how he reacted to particular individual breaking the rules.

Quality posters will be rewarded, they won't have much trouble getting merit and rankings.

That's how the merit system works so far. Every forum member who makes consistently quality posts then they will get ranked. Sooner or later it's just a matter of time, now you'll also find that some posters don't even have enough activity points to rank up despite having many merit.

[isaac_clarke22]

.....in less than 1 hour you could earn at least 100 000 satoshis, and with active referrals, even 500 000 satoshis per day. I remember a Russian site that was something like a PTC with faucets, and there I often used to get 200 000 satoshis in one click - which of course was not much considering the price of Bitcoin in those days of only $200+.

100k satoshis in an hour? Dang, I could recall when I attempted faucets back in 2017 and I could even barely get 500 satoshis in a day during that year when I started even when I tried multiple faucets. I can still recall that I must get into 10k satoshi first from one website before I could even withdraw it. Spoiler alert, I was not able to withdraw it as it was really tedious for me to rotate/switching all the faucets I bookmarked. Not sure what happened to it, but I ain't going back there.
Thanks for sharing your experience by the way! I can see how some things changed overtime.

[Franctoshi]

The best title for this thread should have been why is it so hard that I can't improve myself and rank up in my own opinion, this was same kind of question that I asked sometime in the past when I was a Newbie , But not knowing I was actually getting it wrong , until the time when I realized that I should rather focus on how to learn and improve myself and not how to get merit and ranked up. There a lot of members here that is just waiting on you to put up something educative and impressive to merit you.

However, Is good you've finally come to understand the right thing to do.

[indah rezqi]

On October 5, 2022, I will have my 5th birthday on this forum. I realized that I am not one of the quality posters that I can be proud of compared to hundreds to thousands of other users. I find it difficult to get merit due to poor post quality, but once I understand how the merit system works then I am very motivated to always prioritize quality over quantity. I just think that we have to be brave enough to make assumtion, share ideas and say something right. Those are some of the things that also help us discuss something good with other users.

I never complain about rankings, but I will be honest about my desire to move up the rankings to high rankings. Then Sr is the rank I'm most likely to achieve in the next few months, so it's something I'll try to do in the best way possible.