Has Bitcointalk Become Harder for Genuine Beginners?

[lovesmayfamilis]

I PM'd her asking why she left a neutral tag on my account because I don't post AI content only use grammar check to make my test readable and she asked me to stop using it and I stopped. When she went back to check my posts she discovered that I am no longer using the grammar check of a thing and she gladly removed the tag. Others may see her as a wicked person, but do not see her that way she a nice person who have dedicated herself in keeping the forum clean.

Of course, you complimented me on being a good person, thank you. But since you've marked my nickname several times, then maybe you should just read more what LoyceV writes so that your posts become not just good, but excellent, and stop being aggressive at what people tell you and change yourself, taking into account criticism. Some criticism makes people stronger.
I am not an indicator of the quality of posts, you are putting me in an awkward position:). By removing the tag, I was only equalizing justice, since if I put a tag on you, then half of your compatriots can be given the same one. I'm sorry, but it's true.🤗

[Charles-Tim]

For someone that was introduced to this forum by someone that is already on this forum, the influence should be there already. If the person is a good poster, he will rank up easily.

For someone that know this forum not from anyone but by oneself (just like me), posting good will still let the person rank up. But I easily located people from my country when I was a newbie. This can be helpful.

Most importantly, make sure you research, look for posts that are receiving merits and see how they are and make yourself be seen as a member of this community. To rank up will not be hard.

Make sure you use bitcoin and bitcoin wallet. Also learn about the easy technical parts of bitcoin.

Participate on ongoing contests like Pizza day, Halloween and other ones. You will get merits there because they know they you spend time to participate in the contest.

There are also merit giveaways. Newbies may not know if they do not browse the forum very well or learn from the person that tell them about this forum.

[Sobz]

Frankly speaking, all these things sometimes can make genuine newbies to be discouraged quickly and began to feel that ranking up depends more on recognition than efforts and that's how i see the forum now.  Personally, i would say that this frustration sometimes can push newbies towards copy pasting, Ai generated content, account farming and so on just to survive on the forum.  So, please older users not only merit sources should have rethink genuine newbies are struggling to grow on the forum.

If the forum was created for newbies to rank up, I would have believed you, and I don't see why newbies would be discouraged from ranking up when the primary purpose is to discuss Bitcoin. I think the discussion of Bitcoin is the most important thing; other things like the number of activities and rank are up to you, and if you are not able to achieve them, I don't see any reason why you think it is a problem for the forum. There are many reasons why ranking up may be slow, and it is personal, which you need to look into if you really care.

[Lucius]

I've noticed this too, and I think it's because of an abundance of Merit on some local boards. For a while now, the Merit system is failing to stop account farmers from ranking up.

Yep, things escalated last year after theymos introduced a bunch of new merit sources, mainly in the local boards.

I have always been a big supporter of local boards as I think they are an important part of bitcointalk. Unfortunately, some of them became breeding grounds for alt accounts and shitposters after last year's increase in merit sources.

Maybe it's not up to us to judge who is a good or bad merits source, but everyone who is interested can see that some local boards have become a source of shitposters who are progressing very quickly. All of us who are active in the general part of the forum and have much higher standards regarding merits did not get the opportunity to become merits sources.

As they say in our region, "As you sow, so shall you reap," and it seems that the weeds bore much better than the wheat.

[Zaguru12]

For someone that was introduced to this forum by someone that is already on this forum, the influence should be there already. If the person is a good poster, he will rank up easily.

For someone that know this forum not from anyone but by oneself (just like me), posting good will still let the person rank up. But I easily located people from my country when I was a newbie. This can be helpful.

See Charles I have seen this from this direction that the easiest way to actually grow in this forum is to actually not be a merit hunter. Just do you and I can say that it will definitely come.

Your assertion of been a quality poster is definitely the only gateway to earning genuine or legitimate merits here, how easy does that have to be? You need to definitely learn about everything (isn’t that what brought one here, except there is more) and easily what I will tell a newbie on how to be a good poster is simply to study those legendary guys and he would definitely find the forum easy.

People even gain merit for certain Boards (technical to be precise) because of been inquisitive and the eagerness actually gets them the merit. I wouldn’t say it’s easy to get merit here on the forum but it’s less harder if the total focus is not on it at first but genuinely trying to grow your knowledge first

[philipma1957]

Greeting to you all my fellow bitcointalk members. This thread was as a result of what i have observed on the forum so i do not know if something similar has been discussed about before. However, i used the search button and could not find anything of this kind.

As we all know, bitcointalk is one of the oldest cryptocurrency forums, and over the year the forum has developed systems to reduce spam, scams, plagiarism, and low quality discussions. while these changes have helped improve the quality of the forum, i sometime wonder whether the forum has also become more difficult for genuine beginners.

Well, i am still new to the forum just a year plus, but as history has it. Years ago, ranking up on the forum was not really as difficult as it is now, back them ranking up was mainly based on activity, but today merit plays the major role in ranking up, and this have changed how users interact on the forum.

The merit system was introduced for a good reason because many users were making meaningless posts, low quality post and even spamming only to join signature campaigns. and without the system who knows what the forum could become by now.

Perhaps from a beginner's perspective things may look different. A newbie can spend weeks, months making posts on the forum without receiving a single merit. sometimes the newbie may even have useful opinions but struggle because they do not know how to structure quality discussions or older members may ignore their post due to low rank.

Frankly speaking, all these things sometimes can make genuine newbies to be discouraged quickly and began to feel that ranking up depends more on recognition than efforts and that's how i see the forum now.  Personally, i would say that this frustration sometimes can push newbies towards copy pasting, Ai generated content, account farming and so on just to survive on the forum.  So, please older users not only merit sources should have rethink genuine newbies are struggling to grow on the forum.

I was going to give you 50 merits but you added the last paragraph.

which basically for me ruined the post and thread. 🧵

so i gave you 1 merit instead.  because your topic show why merit sources should read an entire post before they merit.

[Joy- maker]

I was going to give you 50 merits but you added the last paragraph.

which basically for me ruined the post and thread. 🧵

so i gave you 1 merit instead.  because your topic show why merit sources should read an entire post before they merit.

The last paragraph was based on what I have observed so far on the forum. Sometimes,  genue newbies spend weeks, even months posting on the forum without receiving a single merit despite sharing useful opinions, simply because their post lack quality discussion.

If you take a look at the Al report thread and the plagiarism report thread,  you will discover that most users reported there are genuine newbies,  who were trying to imitate  some reputable members that often earn merit whenever they create a thread or reply to one.

I know that some newbies what to rank up immediately and start earning from signature campaigns.  However, merit distribution has dropped. Their are users and merit sources who ignore posts made by genuine newbies despite them having valuable insights.  just take a look at the Nigeria local board, there are five merit sources there still merit distribution is very low when it comes to newbies.

[crwth]

Well, the merit system worked as intended, and that's going to be the challenge, so they have to step up. The onboarding on Bitcointalk isn't as easy as on other sites because there's no fully structured learning path. It's self-discovery.

This wouldn't be a problem if they were genuine learners.
^{I think the best way is to have good quality and communication ability towards posts.}

[notocactus]

just take a look at the Nigeria local board, there are five merit sources there still merit distribution is very low.

Really?

If it is actually low, and the following chart shows it is low, I will have to go to a kindergarten and enjoy my time as kid there.

[philipma1957]

just take a look at the Nigeria local board, there are five merit sources there still merit distribution is very low.

Really?

If it is actually low, and the following chart shows it is low, I will have to go to a kindergarten and enjoy my time as kid there.

and more proof as to why a merit source has to read deeply into giving merits.

[Joy- maker]

and more proof as to why a merit source has to read deeply into giving merits.

You are very correct, but let's not be too quick to judge, people can forget to add words they intended to include. I had already completed the sentence before your comment, you can check it below.

just take a look at the Nigeria local board, there are five merit sources there still merit distribution is very low when it comes to newbies.

[TokenTikas]

Frankly speaking, all these things sometimes can make genuine newbies to be discouraged quickly and began to feel that ranking up depends more on recognition than efforts and that's how i see the forum now.  Personally, i would say that this frustration sometimes can push newbies towards copy pasting, Ai generated content, account farming and so on just to survive on the forum.

Read your entire post carefully because I am a new member myself but I have never regretted any of these things. After starting my journey in the forum, I followed the rules, regulations and pinned posts for a while and later I gradually understood the issues. Although I still don't know anything completely well, I'm moving forward at my own pace according to what I have understood and there is no problem in it.

Mainly try to stay active on the forum, whenever there is an opportunity to share my opinion, I make sure to participate. In particular, I always try to present informative and valuable points through my own views. I don't think about ranking up at all. I believe I'm progressing according to my contributions and activities. There is nothing to be disappointed about regarding these matters. If you keep putting in good effort, the ranks will gradually increase on their own.

[Donneski]

Op I understand the point you're tryna make but I honestly do not think that the forum has become harder for genuine beginners. I struggled so much before I could start earning merits, so I had same opinion until I understood that the forum is becomes harder when you want to rank up quickly.  There are still new users who are receiving merits today thanks to their useful contributions in the forum. The difficult part isn't getting merits, it's understanding that the forum values meaningful, helpful and useful contributions.

[FinneysTrueVision]

You are very correct, but let's not be too quick to judge, people can forget to add words they intended to include. I had already completed the sentence before your comment, you can check it below.

just take a look at the Nigeria local board, there are five merit sources there still merit distribution is very low when it comes to newbies.

Adding the word newbies doesn’t change things a whole lot. The first page of topics in that local board is mostly generic discussions about investing in Bitcoin. Merit sources might struggle to find to find quality posts to give merit to under current circumstances. Even so, there is still plenty of merit going around. A lot of it just ends up going to farmers and circle jerkers.

There are still many other places newbies could earn merit from. You aren’t limited to local sections. Users seem to think that local boards are a shortcut to ranking up faster, when it shouldn’t be the case.

[I_Anime]

This is actually true , well when I was still new to this forum earning merit was not as hard as it is now . Though then it wasn’t easy , but it was still flowing , but has time goes it became more difficult and I won’t blame any one . Is just the wrong of others robbing those genuine newbies (and others in this forum ), due to the fact that earning merit then wasn’t has tough as it is now some users started abusing it , by farming alts account, and stuff and many users especially those that are merit source ain’t fan of helping those alts grow , so to avoid that they prefer given merit to those who have earned some recognition due to their contribution so far . The truth is that even as folks kept complaining about the merit system there folks at there earning through their contribution.

[Churchillvv]

You're approaching this from an account farmer mindset. Believe it or not there are some people that sign up on this forum without ever wanting to join a signature campaign or rank up. They're here to learn about Bitcoin, or whatever. Their merit per post ratio is probably higher than yours, because readers understand their motivations are genuine.

It’s undeniable true that if you have genuine intent than earning mindset in the forum you will thrive more, it’s absolutely true, from my observation post quality drops once a newbie or someone with pure learning intention starts the earning journey, they begin to make post on threads on a normal day without being in a campaign would not contribute to such thread but since they are in a campaign they have to just join the conversation. If people only contribute to quality discussion with a zero merit seeking intention they will start earning merit, so I guess op have to realize this and only focus on self improvement.

[AVE5]

As much as I understand your point very well, I can still tell it for free that according to my examinations recently to why the merits circulations has become not as easy to be earned as usual is basically due to the much number of user's signing in to the forum on regular basis.
Which I also believes that the allocations of the merit sources hasn't been considered increment. And since earning merits may not be based on favouritism or compassion for newbies, earning of the merits has seem to be competition between newbies and the old folks who had already gained experience in the forum.
So the question is how do you think newbies will survive this challenge to rank up since merit when merits are only awarded to quality posts?
The difficulty has also required newbies to buckle up because either old or new users needs the merits either for rank up to meet up with the signature campaign requirements.
Obviously the forum has become a military zone of the survival of the fittest.