Attaining legendary rank - is that the end?

[Lucius]

I've been noticing this particular aspect in this forum since I joined in February of this year. Many legendary members do not receive more merits than lower rank members, in my opinion. This led me to believe that they had attained the highest rank and didn't require merit to move up. They can contribute whenever they want or not, and even provide detailed answers to questions that deserve to be answered. They only comment when they feel it is necessary and add to their post count, which is especially important for signature campaigns.

Some Legendary members are classic shitposters who reached that rank in the system without merits, and some do not have paid signatures and are not very active on the forum. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that we can classify them into several categories, and those who are the most active, certainly according to the data already presented, are not those who have not been awarded with enough merits.

What I’m curious about is that only a few legendary guys are always active in the forum and providing lasting solutions to questions posed in the forum. Others that are active only post to complete their signature posts. Does that imply that after getting to legendary rank, making posts or comments to be merited is not necessary again? Kudos to those legendary guys that are always active and provide solutions to questions even when they’re not on any campaign. They’re amongst the real heroes here.

This forum is still (mostly) visited by people who have lives in the real world, and it is foolish to expect that everyone can be active all the time. Maybe you will understand some things if you ever get to the stage where you can say that you have been active on the forum for at least 5+ years and regardless of ranks, merits and signature campaigns, you will be able to be active every day.

Many people used to come here to shitpost before the merit system was implemented. Merits were airdropped for users back then; is this why they don't understand the value of being a legendary because they didn't earn it through their knowledge contributions to the forum, but rather by simply posting whatever they wanted?

Value to be Legendary? The members you are talking about never cared about the forum or the rank, but only about the profit they can make. It is true that reaching the Legendary rank in the new system has a much greater weight and is therefore more valued, and those who managed to collect 1000 merits in an honest way in that system proved that airdropped merits on them are not an unfair reward for the time they spent on the forum years before that.

[1714174098]

1714174098

[1714174098]

1714174098

[dkbit98]

Can we conclude that not all legendaries are knowledgeable in the forum? I myself was scared to answer or quote legendaries when I initially joined the forum.

Not really.
Legendary members can also be spammers, trolls, and even scammers, like any other member ranks.
We all know the fact that bitcointalk forum accounts can be sold and purchased, so you can never be 100% certain if account didn't change hands.
Reaching Legendary rank is not ''the end'', you can still become DT Default Trust member, some people even became moderators, and you can always contribute forum with reporting spam.
There is no rank above Legendary for now, but I know some excellent member that are not highest rank and they still write great posts and make great forum contributions.

[_BlackStar]

The replies i have gotten so far have changed my initial thoughts. It is true that some people post to maximize their earnings. i was only expecting more from high-ranked members which shouldn't be so, everyone is good in different aspects of the forum and can contribute to the forum irrespective of rank or merits earned.

That's why sometimes a no-minimum posting requirement on a campaign can be a good thing to consider, but you can't stop someone from achieving a max post requirement. I don't think reaching the max post count is against forum rules, but when the quality is low or maybe very bad then it should definitely be reported.

But your discussion is now biased towards other things which may no longer be the main purpose for which you created this thread. You started talking about campaign participants who don't care about post quality but they rank high, so let's hear my suggestion: Report spam posts or low quality posts to the moderators, it can solve all your confusion.

[AnotherAlt]

Many legendary members do not receive more merits than lower rank members, in my opinion.

How would you come to such a conclusion if you didn't have the data?

Well, Maybe he didn't check the data. But, Maybe he noticed some specific signature participants. 1xCrap is one of them. Most of their Legendaries are bullshit, and they don't even know what they are posting. Most of them are sold or hacked accounts. Stake.com signature campaign participants took 2nd Place. I visit https://loyce.club/active/ every other day to see if there are any spammers around. Most of the time, I see some Legendary members (who wore stake signatures) making 10-20 posts per day, and 90% of them are on gambling boards. Their primary focus is making money. If you check their profile, Most of them could not earn more than 20 merits in the last 120 days. I guess OP was thinking the same as mine. That doesn't mean all legendaries are the same.

[Findingnemo]

Legendary rank is the highest rank that anyone can reach in bitcointalk as of now but I don't think merits were distributed less for the one who reached legendary rank because if you look at the highest earned merit profile then its legendary if I am not wrong. But in general merit sources may encourage more new members so the quality will increase in the discussion and that is why actually the forum was created for.

[Little Mouse]

They only comment when they feel it is necessary and add to their post count, which is especially important for signature campaigns.

Can't disagree here. I have seen some members who were very active before they got enough merit to reach Legendary. Here "active" means they used to create guidelines, hunt scam and report them, create informational threads for newbies etc. But when they reached Legendary, they stopped creating new guidelines, informational threads or hunting scam. I'm not saying these are their duty to do. Of course they are not liable to do so but this proves one thing- they are here for signature campaign only. Otherwise, they would still be creating helpful guidelines as some of the Legends still do.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Many legendary members do not receive more merits than lower rank members.

If we turn the table around, I can say, "the same way many lower rank  members do not receive more merits than the legendary members".
Atleast, I know may legendary accounts that get far more merit than any lower rank account - and with this, I will like you to know that earning merits has absolutely nothing to do with what rank a user is, but it has all to do with how knowledgeable a user is.

Legendaries that earn more merits earn it because they are giving out something useful to the forum, and likewise, lower ranks that earn more merits earn it for the same reason as the legendaries - knowledge.

Can we conclude that not all legendaries are knowledgeable in the forum?

A "yes" with a straight face.
The rank "Legendary", to the lower ranks on this forum represent "knowledge", if you permit me to liken this forum to a university, I did say that the legendaries are the professors.
But unfortunately, the rank "Legendary" in this current time does not truly represent "knowledge", because like NeuroticFish said in his/her post you quoted, not all legendary members active now attained that rank through merits, some of them were already legendary members before the merit system was introduced, and like a king that is already sitting on the throne can't be easily dethroned or removed, they were allow to keep the rank, but the merits only went to those legendary members that truely deserve the rank due to their level of knowledge.

So to put it clear, I would say that one of the ways to differenciate or know true legendary members is to look at their post history and merit score and history, this is the easiest way to know those who truely deserve the rank and those who are keeping the rank for old user sake.

[imamusma]

I didn't come to a conclusion yet, I just come up with this out of curiosity. Thanks for providing this useful data, my curiosity is now answered.

Good, so now have you come to a conclusion?

The replies i have gotten so far have changed my initial thoughts. It is true that some people post to maximize their earnings.

If you find them doing it then you can conclude that it's a bad post or something that doesn't make sense, then I agree that the post should be reported to moderator.

i was only expecting more from high-ranked members which shouldn't be so, everyone is good in different aspects of the forum and can contribute to the forum irrespective of rank or merits earned.

I just know that not all Legendary members are very knowledgeable user who understand much about bitcoin or forum rules well. Some Legendary were obtained before the merit system was introduced, they are not all the best posters who made major contributions to previous forum to date. So I don't think all Legendary are ready to be called quality posters because not all of them are supported by knowledge, one of them is technical knowledge in my opinion.

[DVlog]

As of September, there have been 322 Legendary who have received merit with a total of 6.814. Isn't that a pretty high number?
There are an average of 420 Legendary during this year who have earned merits every month (excluding September), but if you want to know the full data, please visit the merit dashboard.

Can you get the data of how many legendary members were active this year and haven't got any merits? I think there were not only 420 high-ranking members in the forum so what happens to the rest of the accounts? They are stolen accounts of the ownership of those accounts been changed?

Accounts that got merits in airdropped and inactive for a long time should erase their merits. Many of those accounts end up being in the account seller's hands.

[KingsDen]

.Many legendary members do not receive more merits than lower rank members, in my opinion

This is not correct and can only be correct when you back it with data or evidence. All the merit data I have seen in the forum points that legendary members recieve more merits than lower ranked members.

. This led me to believe that they had attained the highest rank and didn't require merit to move up. They can contribute whenever they want or not, and even provide detailed answers to questions that deserve to be answered. They only comment when they feel it is necessary and add to their post count, which is especially important for signature campaigns.

Not all legendary members has answer to newbie questions, even if they have not all are ready to share solution. Many people have other things doing apart from being in the forum and the lil time they will have for forum may not permit them to tour the whole forum providing answer to questions.

What I’m curious about is that only a few legendary guys are always active in the forum and providing lasting solutions to questions posed in the forum. Others that are active only post to complete their signature posts. Does that imply that after getting to legendary rank, making posts or comments to be merited is not necessary again?

Apart from some users getting the legendary rank by merit airdrop. Most of the legendary accounts you see today are controlled by lower ranked members. These accounts have changed hands over time and you can't guess the knowledge of the person using the account.

Many people don't care about the rank, many people don't care about anything in live maybe save money.
You can notice that many people are applying to be merit sources while some who are merit sources don't care to distribute.
No strong feelings, here is just a discussion forum.

[skarais]

This is not correct and can only be correct when you back it with data or evidence. All the merit data I have seen in the forum points that legendary members recieve more merits than lower ranked members.

Of course you are right, the available data proves your argument about Legendary members. Legendary is the user who gets the most merit either in a monthly or yearly period. I checked the data through the merit dashboard, it's undeniable.

Many people don't care about the rank, many people don't care about anything in live maybe save money.
You can notice that many people are applying to be merit sources while some who are merit sources don't care to distribute.
No strong feelings, here is just a discussion forum.

Applying to be a merit source is a desire to contribute to the users in this forum, but I don't think merit source is a obligatory type of work where they have to spend all their merit every month. They can stop doing it for some time, it's just free work. True, some people don't care about the merit system, some don't care about rankings either. That should be normal for this forum.

[OgNasty]

Many people don't care about the rank, many people don't care about anything in live maybe save money.
You can notice that many people are applying to be merit sources while some who are merit sources don't care to distribute.
No strong feelings, here is just a discussion forum.

Applying to be a merit source is a desire to contribute to the users in this forum, but I don't think merit source is a obligatory type of work where they have to spend all their merit every month. They can stop doing it for some time, it's just free work. True, some people don't care about the merit system, some don't care about rankings either. That should be normal for this forum.

I don't feel obligated as a merit source to distribute all of my merit every month.  Some months I'm busier than others.  When I do have free time I try to reward merit, or when I see a post I think deserves it I'll click the button.  You are right about it being free work though.  The biggest reason I do it is because I like making people happy and being a contributor.  Handing out merit is a simple and easy way to do both. 

I always considered VIP to be the highest rank here.  We should all strive to reach that someday.  I guess my question is, if you got rich in Bitcoin, how rich would you have to be to donate 50 BTC here, or even 10 BTC to become a Donator? 

[Sandra_hakeem]

I don't feel obligated as a merit source to distribute all of my merit every month.  Some months I'm busier than others.

Seriously?? Wait a second, is you a source? Cus I thought you HODL Smerit for your meriting topics on B/H?

I always considered VIP to be the highest rank here.  We should all strive to reach that someday.  I guess my question is, if you got rich in Bitcoin, how rich would you have to be to donate 50 BTC here, or even 10 BTC to become a Donator? 

OG Nasty, that's an altruistic measure.🤷
You made a donation of 10 btc back then , that's cool. I know you wanna feel like a demi-god for that?  😂 Yeah it's worth it after all.  _{like,I'm actually laughing rn}

But the big question shouldn't be how rich anyone is -- cus you're not in people's wallet and giving is not by how much anyone has-- it should be' : how WILLING is anyone planning to donate these amount? Just as you willfully did?

You're cool dude, alot of OPs in here are billionaires ^{believe it if you want} but they won't dare touch their wallets to support anything. That being said, are you saying that the DONATORS be placed as the highest rank? ☺️

Cheers
Sandra 👩‍🦱

[Poker Player]

I haven't reached Legendary yet, but almost, because I am Hero and I have enough merits to reach the next level. What can happen is that the lower ranked members, if they write in a decent way, the fellow forum members help them to rank up by giving them a bunch of merits all at once. That happened to me several times, even when I was a few short of 1,000, which is the merit requirement for Legendary. From then on, nobody will "help" you, and it's logical, now you have to help those who still have ranks to climb.

But other than that, it is clear that as has been amply shown in this thread, the Legendarys receive the most merit.

[PowerGlove]

I always considered VIP to be the highest rank here.  We should all strive to reach that someday.  I guess my question is, if you got rich in Bitcoin, how rich would you have to be to donate 50 BTC here, or even 10 BTC to become a Donator? 

Is it even possible to attain "Donator" or "VIP" status anymore?

According to https://bitcointalk.org/donate.html, donations are no longer accepted.

While the program was active, it looks like 153 people donated a total of 3,050BTC (38 x 50BTC + 115 x 10BTC) which at the time amounted to less than $70,000 (according to the previous link).

So, the average "Donator" contribution was ~$230 and the average "VIP" contribution was ~$1,150? I'm not sure why, but I imagined it would have been more than that. I wonder how many modern members would contribute (if needed) at those price points?

Anyway, we should all be grateful to past donators for chipping in when the forum needed it. There have been two occasions (that I could find) where these statuses have been handed out for free:

I gave Hal a VIP tag even though he didn't donate because he is nearly as much of a Bitcoin legend as Satoshi IMO. He received the first-ever Bitcoin transaction, and he's been contributing to Bitcoin since before 0.1 was released.

MagicalTux got "free" VIP status for hosting the forum for a long time, too. I think that him plus Hal are the only free donator statuses I gave out. You'd have to do something pretty extraordinary to convince me to give out another free one.

[Mpamaegbu]

~snipped~

You shouldn't post solely for the merits in the first place. Merits should just be the cherry on top due to the quality of your posts, not necessarily the goal.

We also have to factor in a reality that some times meriting a post doesn't denote quality but the likeability of the person meriting it. It could be that the post made them laugh or something else that's not even based on constructive analysis. I'm one of those who believe merit is subjective.

About OP's accusation, I think it's unfounded as they didn't have any data to back it up. Besides, now I guess the OP would've been pointed in the right now by several eye opening responses from other members.

[mindrust]

Can we conclude that not all legendaries are knowledgeable in the forum? I myself was scared to answer or quote legendaries when I initially joined the forum.

Definitely not all the legendary accounts are Gandalfs. You shouldn't be afraid of anyone in the forum anyway. If you think something is right or wrong, then just say it. The forum protects the freedom of speech very well. You will get ignored probably but nobody will put a flag on you or give you a negative trust just because you spoke your mind. (That's it unless it is not some weird shit like murdering people, CP or selling drugs you get the idea)

[Z-tight]

I always considered VIP to be the highest rank here.  We should all strive to reach that someday.  I guess my question is, if you got rich in Bitcoin, how rich would you have to be to donate 50 BTC here, or even 10 BTC to become a Donator?  

It is no longer possible to get the VIP rank here, except Theymos changes the metric to earn that position, or you get it for free (you have to be close to superhuman to do that though), and let's face fact, even the forum admins know that:

Donations were collected back when BTC was comparatively worthless.

With the present value of bitcoin and the future value being something bitcoiners feel will be beyond our imagination, even if donations were still collected, i don't think anyone will donate 50 or 10 BTC to the forum, they will surely hold it and contribute to the forum in other ways than donating.

[JohnBitCo]

I've been noticing this particular aspect in this forum since I joined in February of this year. Many legendary members do not receive more merits than lower rank members, in my opinion. This led me to believe that they had attained the highest rank and didn't require merit to move up.

Yes, you cannot rank up further if you have a legendary rank, no matter whether you were a legendary before or got legendary after the merit system was introduced.
However, if you are a person who wants to join signature campaigns, then you will continuously look for merits as most signatures will require you to get a certain number of merits within 120 days and won't count your old merits.

[Daniel91]

Honestly, legendary rank doesn't really mean that someone is smarter or has more knowledge or experience in crypto than someone who just joined this forum.
It just means that he joined the forum a little earlier and that's all.
I have personally seen that there are new members who are engaged in crypto business and have much more knowledge and experience than the old, legendary members of this forum.
OP, I think that on this forum you really shouldn't worry about titles or ranks, but you should look at the contribution of each individual member to the forum.