[April fools] Adjustments to Merit calculation

[theymos]

Edit: April fools!

In recent years, it seems that a lot of people have been making low-value posts just to get paid. To address this, I've added a merit "cost" to posting: from this point forward, for every 15 characters you post, you will lose one Merit point. This should eliminate any incentive to make low-value posts.

Any halfway-decent poster should be able to earn much more merit than they lose due to the penalty. But I recognize that some good posts are occasionally overlooked. So to counterbalance the penalty, I also added a system whereby you will earn a bit of merit just by reading posts. If you want to write a lot, you'd better do some reading as well!

For both the penalty and the bonus, this applies only to your merit score, and does not affect sendable merit (sMerit).

Let me know what you think of these adjustments.

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[bisdak40]

Happy April Fool's Day theymos  .

[TryNinja]

ty tmos, v gd updt

[Cantsay]

Happy April Fool's Day theymos  .

Hahahaha theymos got me there.

Nice one @theymos you won this year.

[blue Snow]

Thanks I am back to hero member , 1 April 2024 APRIL MOP

[Nwada001]

Like, do you mean if I see a post or question that needs a simple answer and the idea I have to answer that particular question tools me only 15 characters (which I know is not possible) for dropping a simple comment, that way my merit count will reduce? 
 
What about simple replies that have no character but come with only an image on them, which sends a clear message? How will that also be regarded? 

[Cantsay]

~~~

What’s today’s date? 

[SatoPrincess]

Like, do you mean if I see a post or question that needs a simple answer and the idea I have to answer that particular question tools me only 15 characters (which I know is not possible) for dropping a simple comment, that way my merit count will reduce? 
 
What about simple replies that have no character but come with only an image on them, which sends a clear message? How will that also be regarded? 

That’s correct. Theymos is clearly trying to ruin the forum. He probably has something against beginners ranking up, he doesn’t add merit sources and has come up with a new system to make it harder for accounts to rank up. Sad day for bitcointalk.

[Nwada001]

~~~

What’s today’s date? 

I really just wanted to test how many merit will leave my profile 😂😂

And he won on this one

[Marykeller]

Let me know what you think of these adjustments.

It's a wonderful, sweet, and delicious idea. What's the date of today? I want to do some calculations because it's been a while since I did that 

[RickDeckard]

Any halfway-decent poster should be able to earn much more merit than they lose due to the penalty. But I recognize that some good posts are occasionally overlooked. So to counterbalance the penalty, I also added a system whereby you will earn a bit of merit just by reading posts. If you want to write a lot, you'd better do some reading as well!

Quick merit farming method: Read the whole WO thread from start to finish.
Bonus Merit: Post a resume on this thread of your readings with only 15 characters.

[Nwada001]

Like, do you mean if I see a post or question that needs a simple answer and the idea I have to answer that particular question tools me only 15 characters (which I know is not possible) for dropping a simple comment, that way my merit count will reduce?
 
What about simple replies that have no character but come with only an image on them, which sends a clear message? How will that also be regarded?

That’s correct. Theymos is clearly trying to ruin the forum. He probably has something against beginners ranking up, he doesn’t add merit sources and has come up with a new system to make it harder for accounts to rank up. Sad day for bitcointalk.

And you just make this more fun for newbies to believe more and more… before this April fool will be over my merit count will reduce to 1.1  

As it reduces on every comment and post I made, and I was really not stopping, even got my ranked dropped down to full member without noticing it, this really gat us.

[zenrol28]

Happy April Fool's Day theymos  .

lol, too early to spoil it 

I thought it'll be AI this year.

I just visited to check what's in it for this year. 

Anyways, have a good one to all. 

[naira]

I studied math, physics etc for 1 whole year just to prepare myself but.....

[Faisal2202]

In recent years, it seems that a lot of people have been making low-value posts just to get paid. To address this, I've added a merit "cost" to posting: from this point forward, for every 15 characters you post, you will lose one Merit point. This should eliminate any incentive to make low-value posts.

That's a great update, it will force members to make 15+ character posts, and hence will increase the post quality as well, I know sometimes a member have to reply someone in lesser words, but this update will also motivate them to add more words, it will save them some merit points and more words into the post is always a good thing, as it makes sure that other members understand it well.

Any halfway-decent poster should be able to earn much more merit than they lose due to the penalty. But I recognize that some good posts are occasionally overlooked. So to counterbalance the penalty, I also added a system whereby you will earn a bit of merit just by reading posts. If you want to write a lot, you'd better do some reading as well!

That's quite new, I mean how do you, or someone, or anyone giving merit to the reader? How a person would know he has read a lot and deserves a merit, haha, I have seen some people writing long posts, like JJG, hehe, I think anyone replying to him would be making good merits hehe. Anyway, this is a good update, I liked it, and I will like it more when experience it.

For both the penalty and the bonus, this applies only to your merit score, and does not affect sendable merit (sMerit).

So, if one made less than 15 characters post he will lose points, and to recover them they have to read more. Right.

Edit: OMG I thought its real, hehe, I didn't realize its 1st April. I actually saw the post and start writing, didn't saw other member's posts. silly.

[Hispo]

I fell for it this year, I admit it. You won.

Though, I would have preferred something more elaborated like the Flappy bird knock off we had some time ago or the IQ test we were supposed to pass before posting.
The NFT Mania of the year 2021 was also good, anyways... Another year, another occasion I fall as a fool.

[SamReomo]

Thanks Theymos, you have April fooled us!   However, if in real something like that could take place then it's much better to make some changes where users who make high quality posts gets some auto-merits for their time and contribution.

[promise444c5]

Ohh sh*t this got me really bad

[snipie]

I didn't pay attention to the timing and I felt betrayed to see my rank downgraded to Hero after all these years in Bitcointalk
Theymos, you will cause heart attack for someone when he noticed what happened to his profile
HA1FD!

[Cyrus]

+1