Merit is like Fight Club. The trick to earning merit is to not talk about merit. A lot of people for some reason act like guardians of the merit and will do things like ignore you for even mentioning it. This post not receiving merit is a good example.
Yeah, that's true as much as we probably don't want to admit it. We as a community sort of boycott anyone that mentions merit, even though if we were in similar shoes, all exicted about being part of this community, we might've been asking the same questions. I understand that long term users are going to see these questions all the time, and get slightly annoyed, but that isn't really the fault of the new user asking that question.
Just think about when merit got first introduced, it was a new concept, and there was many questions asked by literally everyone on how it works, even though theymos explained it. Some additional clarification was needed, but generally the questions were pretty simple. Well, newbies are joining this forum, which is like almost completely different in terms of other forums out there, is running on some old software which doesn't always behave like other forums they might be used to, so even though the information is out there, they might not have the skills or know how on how to find it. Obviously, there's a bit of a middle ground that should be expected maybe, they should be doing as much research as possible.
However, if they have, and are still struggling I don't see the problem with asking for clarification on why. The responses they get might actually help them. What I find when I'm new to something is phrasing the question in a way that I understand, helps me understand better when someone answers it. So, getting tailor made answers on their posting habits, and why it isn't working, makes sense from a outside perspective.
Obviously, there's blatant cases, but I think we also have to remember this is a global forum, and therefore English isn't everyone's first language. Technically, it wasn't my first language, although it was the one we ended up using daily. Education in Wales, basically tries to teach you both at the same time, so in class you used to ask to go to the toilet in Welsh, instead of English. Probably why I still haven't grasped the English language perfectly in terms of grammar. Anyway, off on a bit of a tangent, but this is where users asking a way that they understand becomes even more beneficial since they might be hitting a language barrier.
I quite like what you've done OgNasty with some of your threads, and there's been others that have done similar things, even if they haven't always been executed perfectly, the general the impression I got was to give newbies a chance, which I believe is a good thing regardless of the execution. Obviously, not spoon feeding them, but giving them the opportunity to actually make a decent effort at gaining that merit, while getting the exposure they need. I know not everyone agrees with that perspective on this forum, but that's why I'm glad there's various different merit sources with different outlooks on the situation.
I do believe we've come a little bit too hostile at times to new users, and I do believe that's a problem at times. I absolutely understand why, especially when you've been here multiple years, and come across the same questions again, and again. However, I would like to see that attitude a little more relaxed, and not assume that everyone is here to abuse signature campaigns. I feel like at times the forum has become too associated with signature campaigns.
