Should There Be Rewards Beyond Merit In The Forum?

[EFS]

Merit isn't really a reward, but rather a metric that shows a user's contribution to the forum. However, it hasn't been very successful because people don't use it enough. And even those who do often don't use it properly, so it's not very reliable data.

There's no need to introduce another similar feature on the forum. Statistics are disabled on the forum, but you can still find plenty of them on 3rd party sites, like most posts, most threads or most merit earned. What would happen if we select user of the month? Who would choose it and based on what criteria? There is already annual community awards. Even that turned into a giant popularity contest. I find these kinds of things unnecessary.

[Zoomic]

Most especially to our legendary members, they have reached the highest rank, so they are not chasing rank anymore and i think merit does not seem to be a motivating force for them.

There's a Legendary of1000 merits;
There's a Legendary of 2000 merits;
There's legendary of 3000 merits;
There's legendary of 5000 merits
Hey, there's legendary of 10,000 merits;
There's a Legendary of 20,000 merits.
The difference is clear

This leads me to the question: do we need any other form of rewards other than merit?

I don't see the merit system as a reward.

Other things as the badges you suggested are not needed, unless you want to turn this forum to Altcoinstalks where a profile could have countless numbers of unwanted badges.

[Supreme Donvic]

This leads me to the question: do we need any other form of rewards other than merit?

We have a ranking system that is in place and it is only when you are contributing very well in the forum you can be given merit and merit is key to your growth in the forum, your reward for posting very well in this forum is growth, you grow from 1 level to another and that's as a result of hard work and dedication and that reward of growth is the only reward you can get from this forum and that is how other forum operate and again we have staff in this forum if you are made a staff it's also a reward.
If you are contributing very well and you are getting merit you will be very happy, I'm always happy when I get merited for post, the only people that won't feel happy that much are those who are already legendary members.
The forum is just okay this way.

[Charcol]

For example:

. Should high quality contributors get more visibility across the forum?

I think those who made high quality contributions have already been recognized. Even those who are still contributing are known to us. After I came to the forum, I heard about @1miau and o_e_l_e_o, they used to contribute quite well. I heard about their introduction. Even after they left, many people remembered them by mentioning their names in some of their posts.

Look at this person, he has saved their names in his BitcoinTalk account profile.

I will even mention @pooya87 here, who has been a regular contributor. But recently, many are missing him due to his absence. There was even a thread opened about him on the reputation board regarding his absence.Hope pooya87 is fine?
Don't you think that they are remembered or recognized because of their good contributions?

I will still say that even in the present time, many users have become quite well-known in the forum, although I do not want to mention their names one-sidedly, but I have kept their contributions and the things I have learned from them in my mind, just as they have been ingrained in my mind. I do not know if you know this. However, in recent times, many users are known to almost everyone, starting from the small users of the forum, and this is the biggest recognition. But this recognition will be more evident when, like @o_e_l_e_o @miau, they too will one day post their last farewell on the forum. Then many people may regret it. I would never want them to say their last farewell to the forum. I always wish them good health, who are constantly making quality contributions to the forum and from whom I am learning regularly.

[LoyceV]

I believe this is a discussion forum

This forum is the reward I know, it's a cliché, but once in a while I feel like some users need to be reminded that having and improving Bitcointalk is a good thing in itself

[KingsDen]

Should there be special badges or recognition for consistent quality posting?

And who decides and determine who deserves such badge
Quality sometimes is subjective and people have different interest.

In the neighboring forum - Altcoinstalks, the admin decides and implement. In some cases, milestones are set and when you hit it, you'll automatically be rewarded with a bad.

There's a badge for making 2 posts with 60 secs and such similar type of badges that could encourage spam.

There, you'll be rewarded with a star, when you keep creating topics/threads.

There reality here is that theymos doesn't have that time. Infact, Satoshi doesn't seek recognition, otherwise he would have been here collecting more awards, rewards and badges.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

For example:

. Should high quality contributors get more visibility across the forum?

. Should there be special badges or recognition for consistent quality posting?

. Would it be appropriate to give some sort of community recognition to the helpful users in such boards as Beginners and Help or Meta?

. Or even something so basic as the top contributor of the month features?

Irrespective of the fact that change is constant, and the longer a person gets familiar with an interface, the more likely he/she might be tired of it and anticipate for a newer experience/features to explore. But when it comes to this issue about giving more rewards to last rank forum members who offers quality contribution to forum discussions. For me, I would have love to say thats why we have the "Trust" on each users profile, whereby good and quality posters always tend to have more positive trust score for offering real value to forum discussions. While secondly, another reward which the forum has got is by appointing them "Merit Source" and "Moderators" in the respective parts of the forum where they tend to have the most knowledge.

So for me, I'm very okay with the 4 rewards the forum offers to quality posters; namely

1. Merit: That is, meriting quality post when you see it
2. Trust : That is, giving them positive trust when someone is able to offer solution to your problem
3. Merit Source: By appointing them Merit Source in the parts of the forum where they have good knowledge about
4. Moderator: By appointing them moderator for boards on the forum.

[Churchillvv]

Op I promise you that without being said we already know the difference without being given any more special reward instead you find the rewards in the way people get recognized, good posters don’t hide, if you make good post there most be a way that you will be noticed and that alone is another reward and we have special badges already and also special names or titles if you check well you see some members with that title, so the forum award program done every year, isn’t that enough reward too? Or we need more ranks, like people above 5 thousand merits, or 10 thousand merits rewards? This stuffs already exist.

[Richbased]

Merit as a reward for post quality is already enough, if another reward should be added to those who are more productive in the forum then it has to be in signature campaigns where a more quality poster can receive higher pay and i have already seen some campaign managers who does that. As for the badges and special recognition, we have staffs and admins who does the work of moderation in the forum and they receive rewards for their service so i don't know anymore reward that we need in the forum. Merit is a symbol of growth in the forum and valuable members often have higher merit counts so when you look at the profile of a user and you see a lot of merits in their profile, it's already a sign of respect.

[nutildah]

I think Satoshi should come back and give us the best airdrop ever: 1 BTC for every merit. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been more than a million merits given on this forum, so its logically sound. On second thought, just trust me, I did the math, and the math maths out.

If this were to actually happen, one thing that wouldn't change: newbs would still be complaining about not getting merits. Ha.

[Repeat06]

BPIP already given recognition with badges , ranks and so on, unless you mean extra  rank which I think most are against already. The forum itself uses badge.

It would be better if it is on this forum directly than using a third party tools like add-ons. I am not implying that BPIP is not good but the real recognition is for it to be on this forum.

I do not think this is what theymos will be planing to do because badges for those that are reporting posts have been proposed before, but it is only possible through third parties. This would have really been good on this forum..

Yes sir I agree with you on this subject. When we look at these topics in the second or any helper it is fine but the problem is in the case of new people. For example when a new person joins the forum for the first time he may not be aware of this subject. So if this forum can be mentioned somewhere or if a specific name can be created for them, with the help of which everyone can understand how much they have contributed to this forum and on which subjects they are skilled.

[Rikafip]

This leads me to the question: do we need any other form of rewards other than merit?

No.

Merit works, it's doing it's job of preventing much spammers from ranking up

Maybe in the past, but not anymore. There are far too many shitposters ranking up lately  to say that merit system works as intended.

In the neighboring forum - Altcoinstalks, the admin decides and implement. In some cases, milestones are set and when you hit it, you'll automatically be rewarded with a bad.

There's a badge for making 2 posts with 60 secs and such similar type of badges that could encourage spam.

There, you'll be rewarded with a star, when you keep creating topics/threads.

There reality here is that theymos doesn't have that time. Infact, Satoshi doesn't seek recognition, otherwise he would have been here collecting more awards, rewards and badges.

This is what an average altcointalk profile looks like to me. Who in their right mind would want to see it here?

[uchegod-21]

@Itz-prisigold, you have raised a valid concern, but even at that, I do not think that additional ranks, badges, or any other kind of reward apart from the already existing merit/trust system will do the forum any good. It may boost the ego of the users who get promoted to these higher ranks or wear these badges, but let’s also look at what it will cost this forum in the long run.

The legendary members who have attained the highest rank in this forum are still around discussing and contributing genuinely to the growth of this forum. If extra rewards are added, that genuineness may be lost because users will be aiming more towards self-recognition rather than genuine contribution. Let’s not make things complicated for the forum; anyone who truly values this forum does not need extra rewards to motivate them to join discussions. If you value anyone’s work, reach out to the person personally and show appreciation in the way you can.

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

@Itz-prisigold, you have raised a valid concern, but even at that, I do not think that additional ranks, badges, or any other kind of reward apart from the already existing merit system will do the forum any good. It may boost the ego of the users who get promoted to these higher ranks or wear these badges, but let’s also look at what it will cost this forum in the long run.

It's not a valid concern.

The rewards for forum members are already a lot as the forum was created for Bitcoin discussions and learning about Bitcoin.
Having chance to join the forum without registration fee, learn about Bitcoin without fee, and discuss about it freely are all good. Forum also happily gives users opportunities to find jobs, get money and prosperity, that are all big rewards.

Welcome message.

Welcome to bitcointalk.org, the Bitcoin Forum! You can access this welcome message from the "help" link in the top menu bar at any time.

As a member of the forum, you are surrounded by legends; phenomenal successes and catastrophic failures. The forum was created by Satoshi Nakamoto and saw the first exchange, the first altcoin, and the first ICO, but also catastrophic software flaws, massive thefts, and incredible scams. You too have an opportunity to become part of the forum's history: whether and in what way you do so is up to you.

The purpose of the forum

This forum exists to provide a platform for the free (but ordered) exchange of ideas. If you have an idea to express, then it is probably possible to do it here as long as you follow the rules.

A lot of people come here primarily looking to make money. The forum administration is very happy that people are able to use the forum in order to better themselves; indeed, one of the reasons for Bitcoin's creation was to break the artificial barriers which prevent so many people around the world from attaining prosperity. However, if your attempts to make money conflict with the forum's primary goal of enabling discussion, then you are swimming upstream, and you will not be sucessful in the end.

If you view the forum as some sort of "job" where you complete some basic tasks and get paid, then you will almost certainly be disappointed, and the forum administration will not be sympathetic. If you do make money using the forum, then it will be through innovation and entrepreneurship, not any sort of mindless busywork.

[uchegod-21]

@Itz-prisigold, you have raised a valid concern, but even at that, I do not think that additional ranks, badges, or any other kind of reward apart from the already existing merit system will do the forum any good. It may boost the ego of the users who get promoted to these higher ranks or wear these badges, but let’s also look at what it will cost this forum in the long run.

It's not a valid concern.

The rewards for forum members are already a lot as the forum was created for Bitcoin discussions and learning about Bitcoin.
Having chance to join the forum without registration fee, learn about Bitcoin without fee, and discuss about it freely are all good. Forum also happily gives users opportunities to find jobs, get money and prosperity, that are all big rewards.

As much as I do not agree with Itz-prisigold, I will not also dismiss the concerns he has made outrightly because I do understand that people do get motivated by different things. To Itz-prisigold and his likes, an additional reward motivates them, but to me, I do maintain my stand that people should contribute to this forum positively genuinely and voluntarily without having to do so because of merits, trusts, or signature campaign benefits.

Talking about signature campaigns, we can already read the arguments about the drop in post quality because of multiple spams just to meet up with weekly campaign quotas. That is  no motivation to help the forum, but for personal reasons and yea, greed.

Just as you have already stated, this forum already provides much value, much more than we can find in other forums or platforms. In the end, those who truly appreciate what the forum offers will not wait for extra rewards to help build the forum and make the forum stay relevant for long.

[Itz-prisigold]

It's not a valid concern.

The rewards for forum members are already a lot as the forum was created for Bitcoin discussions and learning about Bitcoin.
Having chance to join the forum without registration fee, learn about Bitcoin without fee, and discuss about it freely are all good. Forum also happily gives users opportunities to find jobs, get money and prosperity, that are all big rewards.

I believe that there is some confusion here. My point was not even about the value of the forum itself, as I certainly do not doubt that Bitcointalk already has a great deal to offer, both in the form of free access to information and the chance to make money. There is no doubt about that. Meanwhile, free access to information and opportunities is not something unique to one platform alone, so I don't think this your point actually addressed the issue that I brought up.

What I am concerned about is something more specific, long term motivation and recognition in the forum, particularly to the users who already have the highest rank. To the newer users, merit is obviously a powerful motivator since it will help to rank up. However, in the case of Legendary members, there is no longer any issue of rank progression, and so the motivational impact of merit can naturally decrease as time goes on.

So the question I raised is not about requesting for more rewards in general, but whether there should be additional forms of recognition that can actually acknowledge consistent contributions not necessarily based on merit, but without changing the ranking system. But that aside, a lot of reasons have been made already, which I actually agree with some of the points so far. So there is not need in pushing the discussion further

[lovesmayfamilis]

I strongly disagree. That is just a glorified popularity contest IMO. It's fun for the community to participate in and I think the community enjoys it.

Users are definitely recognized via merits, some users are added to trust lists as they have demonstrated good judgement and have shown to be trustworthy, others like LoyceV have tons of information threads that people reference when others have a question which IMO is a great way to recognize a persons contribution to the forum.

At the end of the day, most of the well respected could care less about the pat on the back recognition, but the guys trying to come up are looking for a pat on the back. Do they really need it? You do good, you act accordingly, you help out where you can, you'll be known as a good user. Simple really.

Golden words. Let me recall one user with the nickname "Ratimov." The guy worked so hard to achieve fame. Dozens of new open and seemingly useful topics, the most generous merit source for beginners, and the best reporter, he competed hard with many in the knowledge of the "best." But alas, how did it end? His fame only brought him problems, as his vanity grew to such a point that those around him turned into plebeians, after which he left the forum with swearing and insults.

Is this what the forum wanted? Those who come to the forum just like that, without ambitions but being sincere, will not rush to power or anything else in order to rise up and get some "buns" as soon as possible. And others, trying to create competition here and there, end up rather stupidly.

After all, the saying is that "the higher you fly, the more painful it is to fall"; for some, it sometimes becomes a good conclusion for their lives.

[Doan9269]

Aside what other members have contributed regarding this recognition you are talking about, I think it is also a time to bring out about the community award managed by icopress, this is another interesting community recognition that take place every year, whereby members come across the forum got nominated, but any other recognition has already been made on the explanation from previous replies, I think the bpip also serves its purpose on this regard as well, depending on the way we want to be recognized.

[arabspaceship123]

There are rewards like custom badges if you've responsibly disclosed forum security flaws.

[adultcrypto]

All you have listed above are already in place in the forum so I do not see the need of giving Theymos and his team additional work base on the  superfluity of  such recommendation. For instance, Icopress just concluded community recognition award where people that have contributed immensely were voted by the community and recognized for their efforts and contributions. Through such events we noticed people like, Powerglove, AakZaki and *Ace* being voted for and recognized for their contribution.

On the basis for special barges for consistent quality posters, that is not necessary because the merit system is meant to reward that as it will lead to growth in ranks as well. Since the idea of adding new higher ranks did not scale through, there is absolutely no need of adding any new barge to good posters even though that is what the forum need.