*Ended* Post history review offer

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Sad to say this, but given the fact that Theymos kept silent when I requested more sMerits I'm no longer going to be doing post history reviews on request.  I have a number of members who've been PMing me from months back, and those are the only folks I'm going to continue reviewing posts for.  So if you're not getting a bunch of merits from me in the near future, you didn't make the cut (through no fault of your own).

I've simply had too many requests and too few sMerits.  I seriously considered quitting the merit source position as a FUCK YOU to Theymos, but that would just be an emotional reaction which ultimately wouldn't help the forum.  But I'd still like to state it, and I think I just did.

I'll leave this thread open for a few hours if anyone wants to comment, but I'm not going to be answering questions about whether individual members are going to still have their posts reviewed, because as of right now I have to go back and check all my PMs.

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[Lucius]

My opinion is that maybe you approach it too emotionally and in the wrong way when it comes to being a good merit source. I have always thought that rewarding posts with merits should be done in a more natural way, and that is through normal browsing of the forum and spontaneous rewarding of posts that deserve it.

I don't know how you review someone's post history, but sometimes even a seemingly good post in the context of the entire topic in which it is located may not deserve merit because it may just be a repetition of something that xx members wrote before. I'm not a merit source, so I don't have a problem with such things - but I try to reward posts that, according to my criteria, are useful and of high quality.

Of course, everyone has their own criteria and I respect everyone who tries to contribute to the forum, especially if that contribution is not financially motivated.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I've simply had too many requests and too few sMerits.  I seriously considered quitting the merit source position as a FUCK YOU to Theymos, but that would just be an emotional reaction which ultimately wouldn't help the forum.  But I'd still like to state it, and I think I just did.

I see you are doing everything to get the attention of the main man but he is doing well to ignoring everything that are coming from you LOL

I'll leave this thread open for a few hours if anyone wants to comment, but I'm not going to be answering questions about whether individual members are going to still have their posts reviewed, because as of right now I have to go back and check all my PMs.

Calm down brother. You do not need to take all responsibility on your shoulder. You can just close the merit thread and update the status. People will start realizing it's closed and will not PM you. I don't receive many emails requesting for post review. I am sure a lot of others too don't receive PMs.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Calm down brother.

I'm calm as a mizzafizzin' cucumber.  But I'll tell ya, you wouldn't believe how many new requests I get even after that other thread in Meta has been locked for a while.  Members keep saying they came across it and are requesting reviews which I'm just unable to keep up with, and it's frustrating.

My opinion is that maybe you approach it too emotionally and in the wrong way when it comes to being a good merit source. I have always thought that rewarding posts with merits should be done in a more natural way, and that is through normal browsing of the forum and spontaneous rewarding of posts that deserve it.

When I was doing it by just meriting posts that I came across, I'd always wind up with a surplus of sMerits.  There are members here whose posts are being overlooked simply because of what section they're posted in or for whatever reason, and my goal was to try to help them out in the ranking up process.  When I can dump all of my sMerits each month I feel like I'm doing a much better job as a merit source, and I know I've helped at least a few members to rank up because of my offer.

You have to understand how important I think the merit system is; that's why I probably seem emotional, likely angry.  And yes I'm just a wee bit pissed off that Theymos just keeps ignoring my requests for more sMerits--and that's in addition to his general silence about what he thinks of the state of the system, e.g., whether we need more merit sources and so forth. 

I don't think my request was an unreasonable one, and if it was it'd be nice if I'd at least gotten a response one way or another.  I'm sure Theymos is hard at work developing the new obsolete forum software, but I know damn well he reads threads like the ones I've made, so that's the reason for my FU to him.  I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

[yahoo62278]

So, I have a question. Is it personal preference, strongly agree with a statement, like the user, super good post, or some other reason that decides how many merits you give a person when you merit them? I try to give 1-2 merits to users when I merit them. The only time I normally give more than that is if I see someone close to a new rank. As a merit source, wouldn't you be able to stretch things a bit further by limiting the number you give to users?

[PowerGlove]

I'm sorry to see you give up on this, TP (or, at least feel like giving up on this).

Other than using Loyce's thread once (which I slightly regret), you were the only merit source that had an initiative that I took advantage of. Your merit dumps were very motivating to me (especially when I was just starting out), and at least some of the forum improvement stuff that I occasionally spend/spent my time on (SMF patches, etc.) was due to feeling motivated/appreciated after one of your post history reviews. It even occurred to me (naive, I know) that theymos might be predisposed to granting me a favor after I send him the 2FA patch, and that I would ask him to give in on your name change request.

With that all said, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if you have to become a little more selective in your merit giving. I hate to say it, but once in a while I do run into an objectively bad post that you've merited perhaps a bit too eagerly (just being honest; it doesn't happen often and I'll dig up an example if you like).

Anyway, thanks for the hard work you've put into being such a diligent merit source, I'm sure there are more than a few members (like me) that really appreciate your efforts!

P.S. I can't afford to be as generous as Mitchell, but I've left you a present, all the same.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Calm down brother.

I'm calm as a mizzafizzin' cucumber.  But I'll tell ya, you wouldn't believe how many new requests I get even after that other thread in Meta has been locked for a while.  Members keep saying they came across it and are requesting reviews which I'm just unable to keep up with, and it's frustrating.

I could not find the thread, I guess my type of guys are too ignorant to find archives. Consider to update the thread title, update the OP of the thread too. Some people will still try to take their chance but in that case just ignore the PMs. You may feel you are being rude but sometimes it helps to ignore unwanted stress.

[_BlackStar]

I am very sorry to hear this news from you. The Pharmacist, I've known you for a long time with generosity as a merit source and I think you should be able to keep it up even if you only do what you can. I can't see any other problem other than that you lack merit to share among those who sent you PMs, but you should be able to limit it based on the number of merit you have without having to make it a moral burden.

But for whatever reason, I support your decision in the end. You can still continue your volunteer work as merit source and distributing it to those with quality posts even though you won't receive any more review requests. Finally, I will always remember that I am someone you have helped, so thank you for that, The Pharmacist.

[aysg76]

It's sad to see you in this condition as I am also one of those who was at one time helped by you yo reach my next closet rank with your merit shower but I would say not too feel stressed about it and simply tell members that you will be sharing the smerits to limited number of post depending on the amount you have.

I don't know how many post history request you would be getting after that thread although you have the policy back also but it was not known to mass and every member want to have merits so I can feel the pressure you would be having to cope with them without even having more smerit dump and also remember you are among most generous merit sources but still you are doing great.

I could not find the thread, I guess my type of guys are too ignorant to find archives. Consider to update the thread title, update the OP of the thread too. Some people will still try to take their chance but in that case just ignore the PMs. You may feel you are being rude but sometimes it helps to ignore unwanted stress.

If you are looking to find out the thread that he started making clear his rules for the post history for merits then it's here and after some time it was locked by him.He started the thread to tell memeber they can PM him for post history review but you see how the situation have gone bad because he is out of smerits now.

[Findingnemo]

What if there is a child board which is only accessible by merit sources so where one who ran out of merits they can post the user profile for other merit sources to review them. Because I remember many merit sources said they never able to exhaust their source merits so if there is communication system between the people who are being merit source can bring a permanent solution to this.

[Ludmilla_rose1995]

Calm down brother.

I'm calm as a mizzafizzin' cucumber.  But I'll tell ya, you wouldn't believe how many new requests I get even after that other thread in Meta has been locked for a while.  Members keep saying they came across it and are requesting reviews which I'm just unable to keep up with, and it's frustrating.

hi The Pharmacist, you have done the best you can,, but if you don't really have the sMerit to share with people who ask for it then it's not your fault, you are one of the best members in this forum, don't feel frustrated with pressure given by merit requesters, if they are aware of what struggles you are experiencing then they will definitely not pressure you. I do think you should "ignore" all those who ask you for Merit their post.

[digaran]

Well they should give sources more smerits when they ask for it, no harm in that. If a source misuses their smerits it would become known and they can either remove them or give them less.
And if they are not giving you more maybe it's because they don't like the way you merit people, I'm not them, so can't say for sure which is it.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

If you are looking to find out the thread that he started making clear his rules for the post history for merits then it's here and after some time it was locked by him.He started the thread to tell memeber they can PM him for post history review but you see how the situation have gone bad because he is out of smerits now.

Thanks to bring it for me.
The thread of course looks like that he is still offering the review (Current title: Rules for my post history review offer to the community). None of these merit hunter read anything else than read the OP and go for it. Changing the title of the thread will do the work 99%.

Well they should give sources more smerits when they ask for it, no harm in that. If a source misuses their smerits it would become known and they can either remove them or give them less.
And if they are not giving you more maybe it's because they don't like the way you merit people, I'm not them, so can't say for sure which is it.

Would you mind signing an old bitcoin address please. An address posted before August 2018 will help.

[imamusma]

I've simply had too many requests and too few sMerits.  I seriously considered quitting the merit source position as a FUCK YOU to Theymos, but that would just be an emotional reaction which ultimately wouldn't help the forum.  But I'd still like to state it, and I think I just did.

Please don't do it, you really have to hold back and control your emotions. Now you have every right to vent your anger because theymos don't give you more merit kouta every month but I think you are really suffering these days with a lot of PM. I think you can still review as usual but you should probably stop when your merit bank is used up. You just have to enjoy it and keep at it because you are a really good contributor to this task.

The Pharmacist, I am not advising you on this but take it as a support for what you have been doing for the community so far. Hopefully after this theymos really hear you.

[LoyceV]

As a merit source, wouldn't you be able to stretch things a bit further by limiting the number you give to users?

I think that's theymos' intention. Empty the source, but that's your limit.
Considering the number of posts dropped 90% compared to what it was 4 years ago, and the amount of Merit distributed didn't drop (or maybe even went up a bit), the Merit-to-Post-ratio increased a lot already.

I considered duplicated The Pharmacist's sent Merit, but it doesn't feel right to do it without reading the posts (and context), and I don't have the time for that.

[Quickseller]

I sent you 50 merit, so you can give out 25 sMerit to deserving forum members, either via your original initiative or otherwise.

[joker_josue]

Fellow forum @The Pharmacist just wanted to share something for you:
Keep committed to doing your best for the good of this community. With many or few merits to give away, whatever your contribution is greatly appreciated (at least for me it is)!
I even understand (to a certain extent) your feelings, it's frustrating to want to give merits and not succeed. But he continued to believe that regardless of how you decide to give your merits, they will be given in the right way!
Each one gives what merits he can and how he can, and more should not be demanded. And I don't think they should demand that from you!

So keep going buddy. Better days will come. 



Thank you @The Pharmacist, always!

[JollyGood]

It was very generous of you to do what you did and wanted to (by the sounds of it) continue doing to read through posts and give merits. If I recall correctly your request for extra merits was made a long time ago, I am sorry you did not receive them. Look at it this way, on the plus side if you have more time on your hands it will give you an opportunity to do something else either in and around the forum or away from here.

I'll leave this thread open for a few hours if anyone wants to comment, but I'm not going to be answering questions about whether individual members are going to still have their posts reviewed, because as of right now I have to go back and check all my PMs.

[RickDeckard]

I once had an interesting discussion with a member regarding the early implementation of the merit system and how him being an early merit source had an impact on his activity here. The feedback was quite sincere - being an early merit source means that he/she would feel the "burden" of the "responsibility" of making the best distribution of the new system. The first days/weeks of any new system being implemented are always critical to its success, and this would also be true for the merit system since the merit sources would be the "barometer" that would show the community which kind of posts are worthy to receive merit and thus promote more similar posts/threads in that nature. The first merit sources didn't had an easy task - they had to make a good distribution of merits, remain neutral, spend it all and distribute as widely and as wisely as that they could even if that meant browsing hundreds of posts only to find only 1 post being worthy of 1 or 2 merits (yeah it was that bad at the time).

The same merit source also told me - and I think that this is relevant for you TP - that his/her job became easier when merit sources were gradually added as time moved on since he felt that he wasn't alone in this "job". I totally understand your struggle of wanting to promote good posts/threads that you feel that get lost within the numerous posts/threads that are generated here daily but I also don't want you to think that you're alone in this - you've got users like fillippone[1], ratimov[2], LoyceV[3] (and many more) that also go beyond their duties and actively promote our user base to send them posts that are indeed worthy (or at least that they think they are) so that they can also distribute their smerits. You also have merit sources that promote merit giveaways to our community by teaching them something of value in the process[4][5] (as an example), which is another great example of cross work.

All of this to say that I totally understand what you're feeling TP - there isn't a worst feeling in the world that having the desire to do something only to be blocked by something that you can't possibly overcome - but don't forget that you're not alone in the "merit squad" - I'm sure that while you're unable to send smerits, there are a lot of merit sources that are working in parallel making the rightful distribution of them.

Quite honestly I think that the community would lose a great member of the "merit squid" if you decided to leave but at the same time I think that it isn't a healthy feeling what you're feeling at the moment so I just hope that you end up choosing whatever decision you're most comfortable with.

Better days will surely come TP.

PS: While there isn't a full list of who is a merit source - rightfully so - I would say that there is a high probability that a good chunk of users are found in this list[6]...
[1]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5412657
[2]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5275032.0
[3]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5093271.0
[4]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5289839.0
[5]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5300698.0
[6]https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats=topsendat

[shahzadafzal]

Another one bites the dust...

There were many users who were doing this back in the early days of the merit system, if I remember few of them were QuestionAuthority, BTCforJoe and TMAN. They used to organize small challenges or you ask them to review your post history and in reward you will get merits for the good posts.

During those times 2018-2019 such "post history review offers” were very great and helped many including me too to achieve early ranks until Sr. Member. However keeping the current stats in mind you will notice number of posts have declined significantly but merits have increased or at least stable round ~ 5000 merits weekly, based on Bitcointalk Merit Dashboard. That means on average there's a high chance you will not be able to find a merit-able post unmerited.

Maybe that's the reason theymos don't want to create merit "inflation", there aren't enough posts anymore.

But still I feel for you, I know reviewing someone’s posts takes time and you are dedicating your time for bitcointalk.