So I had a person send me a pm to beg for merits.

[FatFork]

I don't think I'd do anything about it personally except maybe send him a friendly heads up that hitting people up for merits aint really the way we do things around here.  I might even skim through his posts to see if he's contributed anything worthwhile.  But if he's bugging me over and over and it starts feeling harassy, then I'd bring the mods into it.   

I don't think we've got a hard defined rule about this kind of thing.  And it's possible it was an honest mistake if the guy is new and doesn't know the norms yet, so I don't think asking for merits has to be punishable and  like someone said, there's worse things than asking for merits.

[joker_josue]

There are users who like to be asked for merits, they even create topics for these requests.

That's different. I had such threads as well, and the rules clearly state don't PM me asking for anything in private. So if I see someone who is not only incapable of receiving the one merit they need/want and can't even bother to read my thread to understand how to apply, it makes me angry. I don't feel like talking with that individual at all, let alone help them.

Of course, totally agree. Personally, I don't think it makes any sense to ask for merits, I've never done it and I have no intention of doing so.
^{At the very least, I leave indirect hints... lol}

So I said, the best solution is to ignore it. And if the person insists, report it as abuse.

[DaveF]

Oddly enough I have never gotten a message asking for merit that I can remember.
Guess I am enough of an ass that people know not to bother.

7. No begging. [5]

That rule is for money, not merit!

I always thought that was for everything.
Yes, merit came out after that rule. But no begging for BTC, no begging for project support, just ask don't beg.

-Dave

[LoyceV]

Oddly enough I have never gotten a message asking for merit that I can remember.

It just doesn't happen often.

Guess I am enough of an ass that people know not to bother.

I wouldn't bet against human stupidity. I literally wrote the topic on banning plagiarism, and still people copy my posts.

[philipma1957]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

This is personally down to you, if you don’t like what he did and would wish others to be wary of him then it is your choice to create a report which I think will lead to some DT tagging him. Or you can just ignore his posts, PM and probably reports his PM again as unsolicited.

I haven’t read about a laid down punishment for this act just account buying it is frowned upon and the punishment to the offender lies on your own hands.

7. No begging. [5]

That rule is for money, not merit!

Here is theymos’s own link warning against it

Do not beg for merit excessively.

Based on this quote I replied to his pm with a link to this thread.



here is what I sent to him:

since it is my pm I can reveal my answer:

"okay no merit gifts for you.

please read this thread it may help you out.



https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5473781.msg63143588#msg63143588"




I sent that and started this thread because
I rather a newer person learn than have them banned or tagged.

[BitMaxz]

I have the same case received a PM from a newbie asking for merit I just ignored them but I give sometimes if the thread or the post he made is helpful.

Why not tell us the username of who PM you?
I'm sure after he read all the posts here he would stop begging for merit.

[philipma1957]

I have the same case received a PM from a newbie asking for merit I just ignored them but I give sometimes if the thread or the post he made is helpful.

Why not tell us the username of who PM you?
I'm sure after he read all the posts here he would stop begging for merit.

I will keep an eye on what he does maybe he learns.

[virasog]

Am I required to report it?

You are free to do whatever you want, but if I was at your side I would have replied to him and told him that Merit begging is not allowed and give him a warning. I know some people will say that we should give neutral or expose them as they may be account farmers etc but out of goodwill, sometimes a person may not know the rules and genuinely make a mistake. Giving him a warning should be the way to go.
If he continues doing so, then ofcourse he will have to bear the consequences.

[DYING_S0UL]

I think giving out one or two merits won't do any harm (of course he must have the minimum post quality to have merits). You can't just give merits to spam posts. But if one excessively asks for merits and PM you several times, then you should just add him to your ignore list. I have seen many cases of asking (not begging) for merit on my local board. Like when a member is close to full rank, 80, 85, or 90 merits, he would send PMs to our senior members. Some even posted directly in the thread for the help of our senior members. So that he can rank up. So that's common. Even today, I saw a member doing this, i think he had 87 or 89 merit. In this case, giving merit should be understandable. Everyone has different opinions, of course, but it's mine. 

[Asiska02]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

That is left for you to decide on what to do. The person should have asked humbly by maybe saying; he/she wants a review of their post and share them some merits if they are worthy of it. That might have sound more appropriate than just begging or asking for it for free.

Why not tell us the username of who PM you?
I'm sure after he read all the posts here he would stop begging for merit.

The thread is enough for him/her to learn from, exposing the user  won’t undo what he/she has done and might be frightened as a newbie he/she may be. If he/she wants to do something like that in future, the replies he/she sees from this thread will guide him/her on whether to go on or not.

[Z_MBFM]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

When someone asks for merit by personal message it means he doesn't deserve merit for his any post because he always posts shit. so I don't think reporting such shit posters would be a crime 
Whether you report him or not is entirely up to you.  But if it had happened to me, I certainly wouldn't have ignored it without reporting it

[Subbir]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

Haha Haha buy merit from you!

He may not know what you can do to him! 

[philipma1957]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

Haha Haha buy merit from you!

He may not know what you can do to him! 

It is why I kind of wanted to be nice and not tear him up.  I do wish you could know if he is a single new person or a farmer with 5 accounts.

[yahoo62278]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

I get begging pms here and there. At worst report them to admin where you can in the pm. Least they're only begging for merits, I have pms from people begging for btc, merits, votes in contests, and removal of feedback. Some even from reputable members. I have decided not to report or chastise the users for the most part and let it go.

[Hispo]

I have never received a message like that, to be honest. I have received some shady stuff, but nothing as direct as merit begging.
If I had to guess, it would say there is a 70% of chances that user is part of an account farming operation, I do not have any proof of it, just what my gut says to me.
Whether you wish to invest some of your time monitoring their activity to corroborate whether it is or not worth of tagging is up to you, though you should also consider you may not be the first person they messaged for merits and you will likely not be the last one.
You just happened to be the one do decided not to ignore the DM and open a thread about it. If such person decides not to stop it eventually they will get a red tag for merit begging.

Also catches my attention that the administrator did not mention all degree of merit begging is frown upon, but Instead let a certain margin for people to "beg reasonably" to get merits.
If more people knew about it, they would have likey started their Bitcointalk journey by begging a bit, and not learning how to post content of quality and which appealed to the average merit source.
The more you know...

[SamReomo]

The person did not offer money. They just asked for some free merit.

So a how to report this?

Am I required to report it?

If that person asked you to review his/her posts then that's okay because you can review his/her posts and if they aren't merit worthy then tell him/her directly that his/her posts aren't good enough to receive any merits from you. I don't think that it would make anything good by reporting a person like that who's asking for merits as we know everyone wants to grow their account to max level which is legendary and some newbies who aren't good at posting often make such PM's to get some free merits.

@The Sceptical Chymist offered his post history thread to the members who contribute good information on forum and I'm quite sure he might get so many PM's because of that offer. The legit members who made good contribution on forum might have received some merits from him while the ones with low-quality to no-quality posts didn't quality to get any merits from him.

I recommend you to ignore that message and don't report it but still you want to report that member for merit begging then report that member to a moderator or make a thread in reputation board and share details of the PM with others. But, still I think it's way better to avoid those PM's or those members who ask for merits rather then reporting them.

[EarnOnVictor]

Lol he said "do not beg for merits excessively" which means  there are some rooms for begging.  I think you are mature enough to let such actions slide as if they are some cheeky neighborhood kids running around asking for some candy from time to time. IMO, you should let everything slide unless it's something causing damage to you or other people.😉

I love your mature response my friend and I wonder why some people take this life as if it's so difficult and as a big deal. Asking for merit is what I see as the least offence anyone could commit in this forum and towards any user in particular and it's your choice to oblige or not. It's as simple as that.

I believe the OP just asked for asking sake, not even seriously, but how some people took it so seriously to the extent of tagging the person is what baffles me on how people could be cruel on vanity.

If anyone asks me for merits, I will certainly go to his profile and see if such deserves it or not. Giving a few to a person truly deserving of it is never a bad idea. Afterall, the merit system is not perfect.

[KingsDen]

It could be that the user doesn't know that it is against the forum rules to beg for merits.  Although theymos said excessive begging for merits is not allowed,  which means there is a room for normal or minimal begging for merits 

"okay no merit gifts for you.

please read this thread it may help you out.

What a nice reply. Reading this thread and you not being harsh on him might encourage him to do more. However, if you have some smerits you could check his post history to see if there is any quality post you can drop some merits on.

Besides, The Sceptical Chymist runs a thread that he urges people to send him a pm to review their posts and  offer merits. Although you are not him. And the way you treated the matter might be the best way.

[SmartGold01]

To me if someone pm you or you didn't create a topic that says pm for post review then I will say is very bad all less you give a room for that just as few users do give a room to pm them for post review. Don't be surprised if you released merits to them you will end up receiving unsolicited pm from random users because the already given user will go tell their friends who is lacking merits to also send you pm to have some free merits, so my suggestion is that no need to report them neither do they qualify to receive any from you and if you released to them watch out before 7 days to 2 weeks times you receive countless of pm from users you don't expect to beg for merits because you already opened the door to give the first person who asked already so it's upto you to ignore such user or not.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

It's a decision you should have taken on the inside without even having to put it up in public. I am of the same opinion as Lucius; you can either report the PM as an unsolicited PM, and the user will probably get banned. If you get so upset about the PM,you can also put the person on your PM ignore list. Personally, I like to give people a second chance because, on a normal basis, I know that sometimes people take some crazy decisions to carry out some actions. It's only when the result of their action is not productive but perhaps hurts them that they realize they made a mess. You could receive the PM and just ignore it, but when the same user keeps getting on your nerve by sending the same PM repeatedly, you will have enough reason to even tag the person by yourself.