Option to Allow / Restrict merits on the OP Posts

[UmerIdrees]

Though it does not have much use case but i think while creating a topic when there are so many options like whether it be a self-moderated thread or not, etc, why not add another option that we can restrict or allow if anyone can put merit on the post?

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Let me know your comments on this idea 

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[Catenaccio]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Let merit comes naturally and merit is a lot, it is not scarce. Restrict other members to send you merit is against forum approach, freedom that is admin vision for the forum.

So admin, mods apply this restriction against freedom, I think they will not do it.

[PX-Z]

You mean if the user has enough merit, so the user doesn't need it anymore?

Well, merit system was introduced so quality posts (some for appreciation) will be rewarded regardless who the poster is, its rank and so on. So restricting posts to receive merit contradicts its purpose.

[Nwada001]

If such is done and implemented, there will be a lot of biassed decisions by the moderators, and you will be putting moderators in a difficult position to select and decide which posts should earn merit and which ones shouldn't. 
 
Let us also not forget that a post that Member A sees as worth meriting can also be the same post that Member B sees as something that is not worth his merit.
 
We all have what we look at in a post before we can say it catches our attention and deserves our merit, so adding such an option will leave the moderators to decide for us which post is supposed to be merited.
 
To me, there is no point in adding that option if there is a post that is not worth meriting, even if it's been created and repeated a million times. It won't earn any merit unless otherwise stated.

[Poker Player]

I think there's no way that's gonna happen. I believe that the balance between potential benefit/drama and protests would be in favor of the latter and, without being perfect, the merit system is fine as it is. So no need for new ideas like this one.

[Helena Yu]

I'm neutral here, not disagree nor agree with your request.

I find it's make sense if the @OP want to restrict merit send to his thread because when someone create a controversial post, few users will say "@OP you want merit?", "merit hunter/seeker" etc etc. So if the @OP restrict the merit on his post, this kind users will not use this reasons anymore.

But since this forum is quite rare to add or update more features, so I think it's high unlikely not happen due to not really important.

[Wapfika]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Let me know your comments on this idea 

Since the idea here is to restrict  specific users on having merit, I think it’s more simple if the moderators account itself will be restricted to received merits especially theymos since he doesn’t send merit frequently while he can allocate himself sMerit he need one to share on users joining Bitcointalk events.

It’s impossible to apply this to regular member because all of us wants to receive merits because it’s the basis of our contribution here in the forum.

[sheenshane]

..why not add another option that we can restrict or allow if anyone can put merit on the post?

Not a bad idea or proposal but I think it isn't necessary.  Why?
Because IMO, the sending of merit still depends on merit sources or the merit sender, not on every OP post created.
Give 1 merit only if you think it's for appreciation or if it's more knowledgeable you can send more than 1.  Don't put restrictions if I appreciate one of your posts even though you didn't need to merit it because you're already at a high rank.

The reason why we've merit sources is to ensure that we don't run out of merit.
Everyone likes merit, so let's just allow merit in every post to circulate and be used as it will.

[Davidvictorson]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Posts gets merited for several reasons some of them include - agreement with the OP, appreciation to the OP, respectful disagreement, and others. Having the Option being proposed by the OP isn't necessary. If you don't want to receive merits ,it is simple- at the end of each topic simply state that the topic or post shouldn't be merited. This shouldn't be a feature because I don't think there are users who will like the idea besides some users don't care whether they get merits or not.

[Alone055]

Because we don't have a limited amount of Merits available and admin refills the sMerits of merit sources every month, I don't think we need anything like that and anyone should have the right to send Merits to any post they find useful or even generally like the content of it.

This could have been useful if we had a limited amount of Merits and we had the fear of them running out eventually and those who deserve Merits and also need them would be left hanging while those who don't need them will get a bunch, however, that's not the case, and even if people who don't need Merits anymore get as many as possible, that still wouldn't make much of an issue since the supply isn't limited and new sMerits are added to the circulation every month.

[Hatchy]

You mean if the user has enough merit, so the user doesn't need it anymore?

I think that's what op is trying to say and I really don't get why. Another taught I'm having is if one has enough merit then such features will mean that others would be restricted to earn merits from his Post. It would really be unfair to see a nice post and just pass by without meriting it mate. Your idea might fit into some place but still doesn't fits for some reason.

[Churchillvv]

From your own biases it's quite okay for someone to stop himself or herself from recieving merit because there are lots of people out there without enough merit, so the merit should keep flowing around the ones that have less that's your opinion OP but it's not okay for a lot of people here.

The fact is merit shows how authentic a post is, perhaps you could get jealous of see as someone recieving a lots of merit in one post while you have been saying almost the same thing without merit but that's just how things work, you can say the rich in merit is getting richer while the poor in merit remains poor in merit.

The only thing that would have sound good is that merit source should look into the accounts of lower or less merited people that are seriously contributing to the forum and reduce the rate at which they send merit to (subjectively) already fulfilled members (legendary accounts).

[GiftedMAN]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Op, don't you think this will affect the merit system if that happens? you can only suggest this if the moderators, admins and merit sources are only allowed to receive merits but not allowed to send out merits that's when you can think of this but for now, I think everyone needs to be merited no matter how much merit the person has already or the position of the person in doing so it helps in the circulation of merits. If the people mentioned stops receiving merits when they make a post, don't you think it will be difficult for ordinary as used by the op to be merited by those people?

[hugeblack]

I agree with this topic, topics like ----> Bitcoin Pizza bake-off contest! Enter by June 1 does not deserve to have send merits option, as it has become a preferred place for merit farming, but such topics are limited and must be manually edited case-by-case by the administrator.

[Oshosondy]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

You can send merit to any post you like on Bitcointalk. Even theymos do not care if you send merit to anyone. Merit system is good and many people improved their posting and also making newbies to be posting good before they can rank up. That is enough.

I agree with this topic, topics like ----> Bitcoin Pizza bake-off contest! Enter by June 1 does not deserve to have send merits option, as it has become a preferred place for merit farming, but such topics are limited and must be manually edited case-by-case by the administrator.

There are many ways that merit is farmed on this forum but I am sure that admin and moderators will not agree to this. You can know that from the fact that admin and moderators stayed away from merit farming allegations even if proven to be right. It is established members that can tag the merit abusers red.

[Upgrade00]

I have seen a case were a user who was applying to be a merit source indicated at the top of the post that others should not merit the application cause they already had enough merits. This was not heeded and that post still received a handful of merits. Such a feature could have been useful to that user and maybe a few others who have been in that situation.

There may be some cases where this proves useful, like an announcement thread where you don't want merit to be used to buy replies or bias opinions, but even in those there are comments which will be merit worthy.

My take on this is merit is an external action which lies on the user sending the merits and not the one receiving them, just as trust feedbacks. It's up to me to choose who to merit and it's up to you to choose who to send the smerits you get too. I'd you don't want merits then don't make any posts at all.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Let me know your comments on this idea  

No.  The merit system is seemingly doing just fine as it was originally created (with just a few modifications), and it doesn't need any kind of restrictions like you're suggesting.  On top of that, the rule here is that anything that can be abused or used maliciously will be.  That's why the idea of demerits never caught traction, and probably a lot of other proposals that I can't remember at the moment.

Op, don't you think this will affect the merit system if that happens?

I'm not sure if he put a lot of thought into his idea, and he certainly didn't consider the possible consequences were it implemented.  On top of that, I'm not sure if OP understands how important it is that the whole system run smoothly.  The pre-2018 days were just a nightmare of account farming, shitposting, and threads so stupid and filled with garbage that they just made you slap your head.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Sometimes merits are needed, not only for rank. Sometimes you want to thank someone for good posts, but if those who, according to the OP, have enough merit have nothing to express their gratitude with, they will simply end up on the sidelines. Don't worry about merit. Those who are worthy will always receive them, and those who regularly look at them, considering and envying what they think is a “useless waste”  will remain stressed, counting “money in someone else’s wallet.”

[examplens]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits

You are wrong about the purpose of merit. Merit is not given because someone needs it, but to distinguish useful and quality posts.

I agree with this topic, topics like ----> Bitcoin Pizza bake-off contest! Enter by June 1 does not deserve to have send merits option, as it has become a preferred place for merit farming, but such topics are limited and must be manually edited case-by-case by the administrator.

You are right, cases like this are used for merit farming, maybe it would be better to have a limit like one merit per user. Thus, participants can still be rewarded, but they cannot receive more than 1 merit, which would significantly slow things down if it is a question of merit farming.

[Amphenomenon]

I agree with this topic, topics like ----> Bitcoin Pizza bake-off contest! Enter by June 1 does not deserve to have send merits option, as it has become a preferred place for merit farming, but such topics are limited and must be manually edited case-by-case by the administrator.

You are right, cases like this are used for merit farming, maybe it would be better to have a limit like one merit per user. Thus, participants can still be rewarded, but they cannot receive more than 1 merit, which would significantly slow things down if it is a question of merit farming.

I don't really think this will be needed because the rate members shared merits from such contest like the pie Baking and pizza Contest and others is currently reducing yearly since alot of members are now aware of the possible merit farming going on with.

While the entry limit of usually having a minimum of 30 merits will be better than this since this has discourage them for creating a new account because they first need to earn at least 30 merits.

[Mia Chloe]

Nice Idea op but I don't think it's necessary. As long as a post carries quality, a majority of persons would definitely merit it as long as they have some smerits to spare. Every one here has the choice to send some merits of they have some smerits  and everyone also has a choice not to send. Most of the time members here can merit posts based on how much they like it so restricting someone from meriting a post that he likes is quite awkward .
Also if you come to think of it , who doesn't like it when they earn merits (no one I guess) .if you look closely you would even notice that when you earn merits it gives you some level of confidence on the quality of the post.

[Frankolala]

What are you saying, does it mean that admins are not part of the forum, or don't also need merits to encourage their quality post for them to see that forum members appreciate their efforts, knowledge or information that they post here.

Merit is like life in the forum, and it also gives some reputation to forum members. It would be annoying to see someone that is not an admin, and contribute less to the forum having a lot of merits more than an admin that runs the forum, and also write quality post. Merits are numbers but those numbers are very important to forum members, be it a newbie or an admin.

If you feel that admins don't need merits, then don't give your own merits to them, but others have the right to merit any post that is quality to them.

[hilariousandco]

I don't think this is necessary or needed. How many times are people going to not want merit. If someone feels a post is notable then let them have the opportunity to say so with merit.

[pakhitheboss]

Why is this topic being entertained when those creating the topic are the biggest merit abusers? I do not understand what OP meant as merit is subjected to any member's understanding and as per the admin no one can question merits.

Coming back to the topic, why would the admin care about a request on a platform that is outdated? The answer is NO and I do not think we need to do anything with the current merit system. It is still not a remedy but it is still acting as a force to stop scammers and spammers.

[Jet Cash]

I guess I don't "need" merits, but I use the merits awarded for my posts to determine the popularity and usefulness of my posts. No merits means that I shouldn't make post like that.

[Lafu]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Why should we not allowed to Merit posts or threads created by Admins or Moderators when they are useful or helpful.
Sounds like you think everybody above 1000 Merits dosnt need them anymore.
I think that it helps for sure the Merit circulation as it is right now.

OPs suggestions is a very bad one and my vote on that is " No we dont need that "

[Maus0728]

You've said it yourself that there's not much use case so I'm not really buying that idea if you don't have any confidence in it plus there's so much merits to go around anyway, I don't think that we're going to be losing so much if we let things be, there's some things that are better left alone and it's definitely on of these things, people that deserve the merits should get the merits that they deserve, it's how you show an approval on what that person has to say, nothing wrong with doing that and it's not like everyone hoards their merits, they'll give it away when there's someone that will post something and they do deserve it.

It's also an indicator for the usefulness of the post and a way to gratify yourself that you've done something good.

[Pmalek]

If introduced, it's not going to be a feature that many members will want to use. Whether you need the merits or not, it's still nice to receive them. It's one of the ways to acknowledge someone's effort. I don't think you'll find many people who don't want that acknowledgement. Also, if you don't care about merits, than you shouldn't care if someone gives them to you or not. I don't think theymos will consider adding this feature. 

[Zaguru12]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

I think this is one of the many merits requests that I think Theymos wouldn’t even have a second thought about. The Admins/Mods are regularly forum users aside their extra works on keeping the forum in order. They need merits just like you do to grow not in rank but at least see that their work is being appreciated or acknowledged when they creates threads. You should also know that merit earning isn’t all about growing ranks alone too but also you have Smerits to share to other members to encourage them more. This smerits will only be needless only if the Mod/Admin is a merit source and his allocation also is large to cover his spread of this merits. So even if the option is added and I am sure it won’t be used

[Pmalek]

I think this is one of the many merits requests that I think Theymos wouldn’t even have a second thought about. The Admins/Mods are regularly forum users aside their extra works on keeping the forum in order. They need merits just like you do to grow not in rank but at least see that their work is being appreciated or acknowledged when they creates threads. You should also know that merit earning isn’t all about growing ranks alone too but also you have Smerits to share to other members to encourage them more.

Another thing. Many staff members participate in signature campaigns just like regular users. Campaign managers have rules that require those who want to participate to earn an X amount of merits in the last X days. If the mods didn't get enough merits or received much less than other quality members, they won't be the manager's first choice despite their forum status.

[Zaguru12]

Another thing. Many staff members participate in signature campaigns just like regular users. Campaign managers have rules that require those who want to participate to earn an X amount of merits in the last X days. If the mods didn't get enough merits or received much less than other quality members, they won't be the manager's first choice despite their forum status.

This is even another valid point I forgot about, not only signature campaigns there are also some campaigns too that we see or giveaways that requires the member to have Atleast some certain amount of merit before they participate. Another signature campaign rule that also which isn't common yet is the one which requires the member to have certain amount merit each week before they get paid. what will happen to rules like this will the admins/mods be restricted from such rules too. This option will certainly not be utilized

[shield132]

Though it does not have much use case but i think while creating a topic when there are so many options like whether it be a self-moderated thread or not, etc, why not add another option that we can restrict or allow if anyone can put merit on the post?

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Let me know your comments on this idea 

What's the point of restricting merits? Whether or not someone sends you a merit, it doesn't harm you or your account. Almost every Bitcointalk member wants to receive merits, it's nice and shows you appreciation from other people. Since there will be little to no demand on OP post merit restriction, I think it isn't worth working on solving this problem. A forum should only have features that people regularly use and that the forum needs. Features that many people will not use shouldn't be added.

[Pokapoka124]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

By ordinary people, I take it you mean members with less than 1000 merits. You really cannot help it if members with more than 1k merits are making better contributions to the forum than those with less merit ratio. The merit system was introduce to combat shit posters. Merit is not given to help members to rank up.

I agree with this topic, topics like ----> Bitcoin Pizza bake-off contest! Enter by June 1 does not deserve to have send merits option, as it has become a preferred place for merit farming, but such topics are limited and must be manually edited case-by-case by the administrator.

If we are going to follow through with this idea then wall observer board should also be restricted because accounts with low quality posts easily increase their ranks by just posting on that thread. Everyone has their opinion of threads that are being exploited for merit farming and deciding which thread to restrict may become an issue for mods.

[Coyster]

This isn't something Theymos is ever going to implement, i think every suggestion should actually solve a particular problem in the forum and this suggestion of yours does not actually solve any problem. Implementing something that nearly "nobody" is going to use doesn't make too much sense to me and that effort can be put into something else.

[acroman08]

Let me know your comments on this idea 

no offense but I think it's completely unnecessary, I mean what's the point, what positive effect will it have in the forum, I'am curious to know.

also, as Pmalek has mentioned, not many will use the feature, and it's because despite already achieving the required merit count to reach legendary rank, it is still nice and feels good to receive them.

[Uhwuchukwu53]

I don't think this is necessary or needed. How many times are people going to not want merit. If someone feels a post is notable then let them have the opportunity to say so with merit.

Yes that's correct there is not better way if expressing one feeling of satisfaction on a post than this Merritt and also give more motivation to who it's concerned that there is an improvement on its part, try to stop such expression may hider the primary object of the forum  which may not work well.

I don't think this is necessary or needed. How many times are people going to not want merit. If someone feels a post is notable then let them have the opportunity to say so with merit.

Exactly I really concur to this your statement, there are certain rules or principle that it side effects can kill the original design or purpose of a thing and this idea is not far from it, looking at how merrit is been rewarded , there is nothing wrong with the process for any post to receive merit it shows that there is something to be derive on it going The other way may deprived some quality post and people may not know much about those post the us merritable.

[GiftedMAN]

I guess I don't "need" merits, but I use the merits awarded for my posts to determine the popularity and usefulness of my posts. No merits means that I shouldn't make post like that.

Another good point from your opinion and this is right because yes the merits you get can be used to determine the usefulness and impertful your post is to the next user(s). Personally, I have reached out to certain prominent users on post reviews and the post I sent for reviews happen to be the post I feel that was not merited but are worthy to be merited so yes the merits you get from a post will also make you to go as far as making more research since you know how useful it is to the forum, note, that you don't get merit in a post doesn't mean the post is useless also.

[SatoPrincess]

 The merit system was introduced to make it difficult for account farmers to rank up their multiple accounts. Even with the merit system in place, merit cycling is another way these accounts are increasing their merit. IMO this suggestion is just as useless as the demerit button someone suggested a few months ago. Why should quality posters be denied merits just because they have reached legendary rank. If that happens then we will be giving merits to users out of pity.

[aioc]

Merits are what motivate us to create useful posts and when we accumulate merits we can give merits to other good posts, why would you not allow yourself not to get merited?

It is a form of congratulating you for creating a good post if you create a poll for this suggestion I don't think it will get a vote, if you ask those who love to create threads, the majority of them are hoping to get merits

[skarais]

I'm happy with how the merit system is working so far, but in certain cases I think your idea has some worth too. This doesn't happen in most cases, but if the OP doesn't want merit on his thread then he can create his own local rule as a warning. Asking admin to disable the merit function on certain thread seems possible, but I don't know if admins have ever agreed to it in the past.

[decodx]

I don't think this proposal is totally necessary.  Sending merit depends more on the person deciding to send it rather than restricting when to send based on OP posts.  If someone appreciates a post, they should be able to send merit no matter what. So we don't need more rules around that.  Let people decide on their own when a post has earned merit rather than forcing restrictions.

[Franctoshi]

It still not a bad idea though, but it isn't necessary because everything is working quite fine with the merit system already in place, and besides restricting people from sending merit to a post is just like restricting people from their freedom of expression because people use the merit system to express their feelings about a post they come across here, so sending of merit should remain a choice in the way it is working.

[KingsDen]

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Let me know your comments on this idea 

Oops!
You digressed. Just when I thought you will arrive at what is in my mind, then there's a deviation. Let me refine this your idea with what I think could be a better option.

Just like there's self moderation, how about if the Op will have an option to make the thread unable to receive any merits(whether to the Op or to others on the thread). With this, people who spams in ongoing conversations in order to hunt merits will not post in that thread. It will be like a serious discussion thread. I don't know if anyone understands me.

[TravelMug]

As others have said, meriting a post is base on our criteria, so it's subjective for each individuals. And then we have been thought that merit will decay and so we have to spend it the way we wanted, whether we agree or disagree with the thread.

So for me and no offense to the OP, this is not necessary to be implemented and it seems that after the merit has implemented, everyone has settled down and we have our own yardsticks on what post we want to merit and how much merit we gave, not restrict it.

[SatoPrincess]

Just like there's self moderation, how about if the Op will have an option to make the thread unable to receive any merits(whether to the Op or to others on the thread). With this, people who spams in ongoing conversations in order to hunt merits will not post in that thread. It will be like a serious discussion thread. I don't know if anyone understands me.

I don’t know about that. The motivation for many spammers is the money they get from signature campaigns, “moderating merits” will not stop them from spamming threads to reach their weekly quota. Besides the community can see through these merit hunting posts, there is little chance of them getting any merits from members.

[Saisher]

What an idea but OP's reason will not convince members to support or even use this feature if ever this is installed, merits is a reward system that tells the creator of the post that he created very good content, merits and reputations are what define our account here so why would you want to restrict other from meriting your posts.
And by generating smerits you'll be able members to rank up and commend their posts, OP mentioned sending merits instead to ordinary people, even though we are on different ranks we are still equal here.

[CODE200]

As others have said, meriting a post is base on our criteria, so it's subjective for each individuals. And then we have been thought that merit will decay and so we have to spend it the way we wanted, whether we agree or disagree with the thread.

So for me and no offense to the OP, this is not necessary to be implemented and it seems that after the merit has implemented, everyone has settled down and we have our own yardsticks on what post we want to merit and how much merit we gave, not restrict it.

It isn't necessary in any way and I don't even believe that there's a way that it makes sense that you would limit someone's post just because a lot of people are giving it merits, that's just straight up jealousy in my opinion, people have a subjective look on things so it's expected that some of them might not see what you're seeing as quality post, that's just how it is, we can't do much about it. Maybe you can protest that you get this option but you will be the only one that will get it, that way you're sleeping peacefully. Also, can you imagine that if someone gets attacked in the forum and they would get mass reported thus having them stricken with the unmeritable posts.

[Pmalek]

I'm happy with how the merit system is working so far, but in certain cases I think your idea has some worth too. This doesn't happen in most cases, but if the OP doesn't want merit on his thread then he can create his own local rule as a warning. Asking admin to disable the merit function on certain thread seems possible, but I don't know if admins have ever agreed to it in the past.

Are you sure they can do that? I have never heard or seen that merits can't be sent in certain threads or to a particular individual. I don't remember ever seeing a discussion about it either. Besides, OPs suggestion isn't about restricting merits for the whole thread and all the users posting in it. It's about preventing the thread starter to get merited because they don't want to/don't need the merits.

And then we have been thought that merit will decay and so we have to spend it the way we wanted, whether we agree or disagree with the thread.

sMerits don't decay and become useless and non-spendable. There are no time limits to the merits in your account. It's only source merits that decay if the allocation isn't completely depleted in a 1-month cycle.

[Sandra_hakeem]

I don't think this is necessary or needed. How many times are people going to not want merit. If someone feels a post is notable then let them have the opportunity to say so with merit.

Sad that everything has retrograded overtime... I mean, you don't have to believe whatever allegations you've seen/ known about this -- maybe because there's a little to what changes you can make?...Yes, but that isn't the reality? Nahh!...^{[I get sick of this everyday]}

If the mods didn't get enough merits or received much less than other quality members, they won't be the manager's first choice despite their forum status.

Malek, for the first time, I'd have to disagree with you... Managers prioritize recognition, merit status and post quality.... I mean, you could get screwed for not getting enough merit despite making quality post ( I am an example of what I described). That doesn't mean I support the notion on what the purpose of this topic is -- my reasons are in-between the counter-imbalance in merit circulation by the supposed most merited users (low ranking members) and the hesitation of farming up alts with the Smerit surplus blizzare.

sMerits don't decay and become useless and non-spendable. There are no time limits to the merits in your account. It's only source merits that decay if the allocation isn't completely depleted in a 1-month cycle.

Ehhhh ... Boy, why are you not part of the cycling club shit?

[Pmalek]

Ehhhh ... Boy, why are you not part of the cycling club shit?

I guess I am not a high-quality cycler to be invited to a premium club like that. I'll have to cycle harder. I can always start identifying as a member of the merit cycling club and change my pronouns. That's popular in this time and age. Then, I will finally get the merit recognition I deserve.

[LoyceV]

if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Reading between the lines, you seem to think Merit is scarce, so it should be preserved for "people who need it". That's the wrong approach. Merit isn't meant for "people who need it". And Merit isn't scarce, good posts are. I wouldn't like it if someone stops me from Meriting the posts I want. It's hard enough to get rid of sMerit already (and that's coming from someone who sent 49687 sMerits).
If we'd reserve Merit for people "who need it", we wouldn't have needed the Merit system in the first place. Back then, every shitposter could rank up as many accounts as they wanted.
Merit is supposed to stop many people from ranking up!

[Alpha Marine]

It is not the owner of the post that determines if a post should receive merit or not, it's the post itself that determines that. It doesn't matter who makes a post, if a user or users feel the post deserves merit and they have, they give out of their own free will. I understand that some reputable members get merits to posts that ordinary members wouldn't have gotten merit from, but it's still the choice of those who gave them the merit. They gave the merit because, to them, the post was a good one and deserved it.
In my opinion, the merit system is a reward for a good post, if a member makes a post that he/she feels deserves merit, there are ways on this forum to get that post merited.
So, whoever "needs merits" should make quality posts.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Reading between the lines, you seem to think Merit is scarce, so it should be preserved for "people who need it". That's the wrong approach. Merit isn't meant for "people who need it". And Merit isn't scarce, good posts are. I wouldn't like it if someone stops me from Meriting the posts I want. It's hard enough to get rid of sMerit already (and that's coming from someone who sent 49687 sMerits).

Oh C'monnn!!.... I seen this already ^{[for like twice or so]} then I keep wondering; what's your criterion for a quality post?  looks to me like the only set of writings that makes much sense to you are "technical post"...?
look, I'm not tryna be a thorn in your ass, neither am i against your judgements merit-wise....(It could have been what you thought presumably)but if you're observant, you'd realize that all through my newbie days to this day, I've always been against the usual sentiment of meriting already-made potential legendary members alone.I've achieved my ranks althrough to being a HM - I could decide to not bother about getting merited, YES! but how about them newbies?.. how well would you cycle if you had to do this all by yourself?what's the essence of having Smerit in the system?

Edit: The second point i made wasn't about you either!

That doesn't mean I support the notion on what the purpose of this topic is.

[LTU_btc]

OP, you answered it yourself - such thing wouldn't have much use. How many users would opt not to get merit for their post? I suppose it would be very few and it's not worth to implement thing which isn't needed much.
And if someone don't nned merits to rank up anymore, it doesn't means that he don't need merit at all. Merit is neede for recognition, emphasizing good posts. It's not like tht we have situation with lack of merit when it's given away to people who don't need it anymore instead of giving it to lower ranked members.

[KingsDen]

Just like there's self moderation, how about if the Op will have an option to make the thread unable to receive any merits(whether to the Op or to others on the thread). With this, people who spams in ongoing conversations in order to hunt merits will not post in that thread. It will be like a serious discussion thread. I don't know if anyone understands me.

I don’t know about that. The motivation for many spammers is the money they get from signature campaigns, “moderating merits” will not stop them from spamming threads to reach their weekly quota. Besides the community can see through these merit hunting posts, there is little chance of them getting any merits from members.

You are right and this means there are different levels of spamming.
A spammer wearing signature; This doesn't care much about merits since the weekly bucks will be coming.
A spammer trying to rank up;
Here will be the type of spammer that would be stopped by my proposed idea. This spammer will try everything possible to earn merits.

[Pmalek]

Merit is supposed to stop many people from ranking up!

It's supposed to stop those that don't have the quality and, thus, don't deserve to rank up. If 9/10 are all quality contributors, then they should all rank up with the help of the merit system. If only 1/10 has the needed knowledge and quality, then only that one person should be rewarded enough merits to climb the rank ladder. The system still works.

[crwth]

It's like not having the like button on a post. How are you going to show your appreciation without spamming on the thread? I think this wouldn't be necessary or helpful when implemented.

[Mia Chloe]

I don't think this is necessary or needed. How many times are people going to not want merit. If someone feels a post is notable then let them have the opportunity to say so with merit.

This is very true because since merit is a form of progress on the forum, everyone would like to have it. I bet you from the highest merit earners to the lowest merit earners, all of them are quite happy when they earn merits. However assuming OP's suggestion was feasible, it would create an avenue for some users to attack certain posts tagging them as merit fishing just because the Op probably didn't turn off merit receiving from the particular post.
Just like The Sceptical Chymist mentioned, in my opinion also the merit system is quite ok as too many modifications would not be necessary. I believe theymos is aware of all these suggestions and isn't accepting most mods on the forum because of the effects they may have especially on the merit system.

[JollyGood]

I have tried to find any possible reason for why this functionality should be added to the system but cannot think of even one. Unless I am missing the obvious, there cannot be any  reason why anybody would be benefitting by have access to this function. This option should not even be considered to be added on the shortlist of any potential patch.

Though it does not have much use case but i think while creating a topic when there are so many options like whether it be a self-moderated thread or not, etc, why not add another option that we can restrict or allow if anyone can put merit on the post?

In general, everyone will allow the OP post to be merited but there can be situations like if any admin or mod, posts a thread he does not need merits and therefore he may restrict the post to be merited, so people and/or the merit sources do not send merits to those posts and rather give merits to ordinary people.

Let me know your comments on this idea 

[coin-investor]

It's like not having the like button on a post. How are you going to show your appreciation without spamming on the thread? I think this wouldn't be necessary or helpful when implemented.

Every human being needs to be appreciated on the platform, venue, or place where he is active, this is why all social media platforms replicate that need by having like buttons on their platform, and Bitcointalk's version of appreciation is the merit, so why would anyone discard merit?

Even the members with the highest numbers of merits still create quality posts for contribution and merits if there is a poll for this I don't think it will generate support.

[DabsPoorVersion]

I have tried to find any possible reason for why this functionality should be added to the system but cannot think of even one. Unless I am missing the obvious, there cannot be any  reason why anybody would be benefitting by have access to this function. This option should not even be considered to be added on the shortlist of any potential patch.

[...]
rather give merits to ordinary people.

There's no need. It's totally unnecessary so don't waste your time thinking for any possible reason.

The main point I can see in this function is the same as giving pity to another user who has not received any merit by making a lot of posts.

OP, remember we are all ordinary people here sending merit is an individual choice.

[Casdinyard]

It's good and all but I just wanna ask, why?

For this to even be considered "viable" the question has to be asked: What painpoint of self-moderated topics is this going to solve? Is it solving anything or is it going to introduce a solution to a problem that doesn't exist? Cause I haven't seen anyone, who's more into creating self-moderated topics who wished they could disable merit sending in their threads? You could argue that this is to stop shitposters from getting merited or whatever but I'd argue that they get even lesser chances of racking merits in threads like these compared to regular threads. 9 times out of 10 your shitpost's getting deleted in self-moderated posts faster than modded posts cause there's a tendency for post masters to watch their threads closely, LoyceV included (I got my post deleted cause it was out of context based on the current flow of the conversation in his thread that one time, not mad about it, actually happy that it happened cause I wouldn't want it any other way)

Again, this doesn't solve any issue in my opinion, I'd argue this is going to bring even more problems in the long run since it's going to change a fundamental aspect of the bitcointalk forum.