Topic: alani123 merit source application (Read 360 times)

Personally, I always support member applications coming from local sections.
I know there are a lot of members who don’t know English well so they mostly write on their local sections.
If there is no local merit source who understands the language, to look at their posts and reward those good ones with merits, these members would never have a chance to get merits.
I wish you luck with your application.

Alani123 might want to have a look at this thread when he has a chance.

Alani123, it's good you bumped your application thread and I have to say I think it's been quite a while since I've seen anyone apply to be a merit source.

I can't read Theymos's mind, so I have no idea what his plans are for the future of the merit system, part of which would obviously be the addition and deletion (for a variety of reasons) of merit sources.  I'd really like to know if he thinks there's enough merits being given out and that sort of thing.  And as I've said before, I think the forum could probably use some more sources--but I don't know if any merit sources dropped out, got lazy, gave up, or anything along those lines.  It'd be nice if we had some data.

Anyway OP, good luck with your application and I hope you get picked.

Edit:
Huh.  Guess I missed that thread entirely.

Some interesting questions. I guess I can get around answering them.
For one, there's certain behaviors I consider admirable. For example, being helpful, analyzing information on bitcointalk, creating tools for the community and more.
Things I don't like include unfounded drama, baseless allegations, but also allegations where the complainant isn't the harmed party. It seems that in some cases bitcointalkers are especially passionate about digging up dirt on each other. I had written about this more extensively in my post here.
Aside of that I wouldn't say I have any favorites or least favorites in terms of users, Clubs, Groups, or indeed Gangs etc..

In terms of bias towards users of bitcointalk; I'd like to believe that over my last few years here I haven't contributed to any major drama by taking sides. In terms of impartiality in general now... I think the ideal way to judge content on bitcointalk by is to look at the content first and consider its own merits (or faults). Then consider motives and give the least amount of attention to who's producing the content. People with bad trust can be capable of producing high quality content, just like how previously highly trusted users can be implicated in controversial dealings.

I think there's a standard set of values that can make posts merit-worthy here. Quality, effort, research, presentation, informativeness, sources and more... Most can go without saying if you're talking to a member of the forum that's been around for years. The more a post ascribes by those values, the more merit it would be worth receiving. As I teased in the OP though, sometimes I think that on-topic replies, albeit short sometimes, can be worthy of some merit points. This category could include (without being limited to the cases mentioned), banter, case-specific and unique memes, short but on-point answers and technical insights that are short but point to the right direction and could be of tremendous help. More so, I consider the impact merit points can have to also have value, so I like to be especially rewarding to new members (and anyone below 1k merits really) who put out their best efforts to make good posts.

Would you say that you are a  part of any Clubs, Groups, or indeed Gangs here on Bitcoin talk?

Please elaborate.

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Do you feel that you are unbiased?

Please elaborate.

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How would you distribute merits?  One per post?  Ten merits per post? Some skewered in one direction, but not another?

Please elaborate.

Hello bitcointalkers!

I'm applying to become a merit source, and part of my motivation is that as we speak, there's a lack of encouragement for members of the public in Greece to get around knowing about bitcoin the right way. I've gotten to love this forum being a member of it since 2013. I couldn't say I got much in terms of monetary value off of bitcoin through the years, but the things I learned are priceless nevertheless. I wish more people from my country would join this forum too as I think it's one of the best ways to interact with the bitcoin community and learn about the real crypto from people that actually use it. In turn, I would like to do my part encouraging more community interaction here.

I'll get on with quoting 10 posts I see as worthy of more merit:

1.
chek2fire is in my view, one of the most important pillars of the Greek bitcoin community. Even from my early days on this forum, I remember him trying to encourage community interaction and always doing his best to uphold principles of openness and freedom in software high. He's the admin of https://www.bitcoin-gr.org, one of the most impartial and always up to date Greek websites on bitcoin, running it for years without ads. Surely this post of him isn't his best one, but I think he too should be a honorary merit source for his positive work in helping bitcoin throughout the years!

2.
Here's a new member on the Greek sub-forum offering legal and practical advice on how to begin accepting BTC as a business.

3.
BlackHatCoiner here working on an educational project in Greek and asking for help on how to explain hash functions. Terminology and the technical background behind bitcoin can get quite complicated for non-technical users. However, understanding the technology in-depth is a great way to know what's the value behind bitcoin. Such content in Greek is sparse too.

4.
There's an active community of bitcoin enthusiasts in Greece organizing IRL meetups. I don't live in a large city but I know for a fact that they've been putting some great work towards the cause. Many great personalities have joined these community organized events and I'd love to see more of that around Greece. Their presence on bitcointalk also is worth a boost in my view.

5.
As with above, another user working to promote meetups in Greece which I consider a great cause.

6.
Here a user reporting on a phishing attempt. In my view it's useful to put these on the record and I appreciate users putting in the time to do so in exposing such scams.

7.
A user putting down effort to denote positive events to come out of the pandemic that is covid-19 is something worthy of some merit in my eyes.

8.
Author of Harry Potter books was recently asked about bitcoin on Twitter. A bitcointalker made a video to catch on the virality of this event and actually put a great effort to explain bitcoin in simple terms.

9.
I like analysis on real world events taking into account data metrics. Many users of this forum might get caught up in BTC price charts day in and day out, but what's going on in the world's financial markets is also of great importance. Data is sometimes also needed to dispel overly optimistic notions. When users spend time to put forward evidence supporting their claims I think it needs a little reward.

10.
After it was noticed that Google (indirectly) mentioned Roger Ver as CEO of bitcoin, a user promptly responded with how this could be corrected. A 30 second task worth completing by every bitcoiner to help newcomers in the space avoid confusion.

These are just 10 topics I noticed recently that could use more merit. My wish initially was to find all 10 posts from the last months within the Greek forum alone. But sadly the Greek sub-forum here isn't all that active.  wish it'd become more vibrant. Perhaps rewarding posts with some merit could help.

As of some thoughts on meriting posts. I think that the merit system is best utilized when new members also get their fair share of merit too. Currently, due to limited merit for me, I've been very conservative with how much I give and to whom. I try to limit my merit-giving to posters I think it will have more of an impact of. This tends to lead me in ignoring outstanding posts from members that have already ranked up. Such posts would also be worthy of merit if it weren't for my supply drying up so easily.

I also kinda like being a first-meriter. I feel that  being the first to merit a post draws the eyes of others keen in using the merit system, and kind of eases the feeling most people would have for the decision as to whether they should part with some of their merit points or not. Lastly, fitting responses and on-topic contributions in a topic's responses, even if small, are also deserving of some merit to me.
 
In short: Many posts of great quality form new users go unnoticed or under-noticed and I believe newbies especially should receive incentives for good behavior more liberally.
That's all from me for this post. Cheers to everyone!