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Topic: Buying of merits thread. If you have proof post it here and let them be tagged (Read 688 times)

legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
Today I received a message from a user on telegram about a user in the winz.io campaign who was buying merits. I spoke with the user and told them, "Without proof there is nothing I can do".

After speaking with this user, I also decided to message the person he was referring to as well as look into his merit history. While looking into his merit history I seen 2 suspicious profiles

I don't know, but I suspect that the merit requirement for receiving payment would have a lot of consequences, forcing the merit buying and selling back to telegram and the forum. Not having merit does not necessarily mean that the poster is shit or that the post content is not good enough; in the gambling section, we have tons of quality discussion going on, and we are used to the fact that gambling posts rarely get merit because we do not have a merit source. I understand you wanted to try something different than other managers, but the rules will not benefit the forum in the long run unless you enjoy your participants putting in effort only to walk away with half the money for failing get a single merit.

I'm a full-time gambling poster, and I can tell you that the gambling board accounts for only 0.2% of my total merit, despite the fact that i posts their the most since I became Peter Drury  and buwaytres is ( Jim Begling). Don't you think the merit requirement is too stringent? Personally, I would have preferred a monthly target of at least 5 merit for a member to remain in the campaign. Life on the gambling board is more difficult than you think, especially for those who came for the merits.. Grin

your campaign, your rules but theymos will not like members getting tagged for merit exchange.

If I recall correctly, I had a similar conversation with JollyGood about having a merit source on the gambling section. I can't believe we have so many good posters on that board and yet the merit distribution is the lowest among other sub-boards..

The gambling section is something I avoid because I am a compulsive gambler.

I also only read English so merits for all foreign language and all gambling sections are ignored. Thus a Spanish speaking guy or girl that posts mostly in the Spanish section and the gambling section Has no shot at getting a merit from me.

So once again I suggest to the op try a different way to rate posters. Other Than saying they must get new merits on a regular basis.
staff
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1610
The Naija & BSFL Sherrif 📛
Today I received a message from a user on telegram about a user in the winz.io campaign who was buying merits. I spoke with the user and told them, "Without proof there is nothing I can do".

After speaking with this user, I also decided to message the person he was referring to as well as look into his merit history. While looking into his merit history I seen 2 suspicious profiles

I don't know, but I suspect that the merit requirement for receiving payment would have a lot of consequences, forcing the merit buying and selling back to telegram and the forum. Not having merit does not necessarily mean that the poster is shit or that the post content is not good enough; in the gambling section, we have tons of quality discussion going on, and we are used to the fact that gambling posts rarely get merit because we do not have a merit source. I understand you wanted to try something different than other managers, but the rules will not benefit the forum in the long run unless you enjoy your participants putting in effort only to walk away with half the money for failing get a single merit.

I'm a full-time gambling poster, and I can tell you that the gambling board accounts for only 0.2% of my total merit, despite the fact that i posts their the most since I became Peter Drury  and buwaytres is ( Jim Begling). Don't you think the merit requirement is too stringent? Personally, I would have preferred a monthly target of at least 5 merit for a member to remain in the campaign. Life on the gambling board is more difficult than you think, especially for those who came for the merits.. Grin

your campaign, your rules but theymos will not like members getting tagged for merit exchange.

If I recall correctly, I had a similar conversation with JollyGood about having a merit source on the gambling section. I can't believe we have so many good posters on that board and yet the merit distribution is the lowest among other sub-boards..
legendary
Activity: 2072
Merit: 4265
✿♥‿♥✿
There have been so many cases of suspected merit abuse reported in various threads over the years that I'd bet it's well over 100.  I'm sure it would be more than that were it not for the fact that Theymos told the community not to make a big deal about it--but either way, if the community wants to start tagging merit abusers with enough evidence against them, I sure as hell would be fine with it and if the forum detectives start looking closely enough I've no doubt this thread would end up with 1000 pages within a year.

What theymos said is that if someone negative tagged someone else for things concerning merit other than buying merit they were not going to be in DT for long. I'm speaking from memory but I'm sure he said something like that. I imagine someone with a facility for finding quotes like LoyceV can provide the quote here.

So anything that isn't merit buying and selling, he doesn't see as a big deal.

Perhaps you mean these words left by theymos.

If a DT member tags you for something stupid involving merit (ie. probably anything less than selling merit), then they're not going to be a DT member for much longer.

legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 2017
There have been so many cases of suspected merit abuse reported in various threads over the years that I'd bet it's well over 100.  I'm sure it would be more than that were it not for the fact that Theymos told the community not to make a big deal about it--but either way, if the community wants to start tagging merit abusers with enough evidence against them, I sure as hell would be fine with it and if the forum detectives start looking closely enough I've no doubt this thread would end up with 1000 pages within a year.

What theymos said is that if someone negative tagged someone else for things concerning merit other than buying merit they were not going to be in DT for long. I'm speaking from memory but I'm sure he said something like that. I imagine someone with a facility for finding quotes like LoyceV can provide the quote here.

So anything that isn't merit buying and selling, he doesn't see as a big deal.
legendary
Activity: 4116
Merit: 7849
'The right to privacy matters'
Well bitcointalk is one of the only forums to sell or rent your signature space .

I have mentioned time and time and time again.

Lets have a signature holiday.

I know it won’t be done but mentioning it is worth while.

What happens is merits were made to have value by this op as he admits to doing.

So who is the bad guy?

the op or the guy that needs to hustle to get a merit.

many don’t earn merits for many reasons some are good but one reason is meriting people is a lot of work.

I give thousands of merits I read for hours on end to give merits out.

I do this because many people deserve merits.
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 1713
Top Crypto Casino
Merit abuse goes on all the time, it is very difficult to keep tabs on all accounts receiving merits and trying to connect them with dubious sending/receiving, that is why those participating in it continue to do it.

One of the accounts was already tagged by me before I found this thread, I had read the previous feedback about merit selling but kept mine limited to 1xbit. I have tagged the other two accounts for merit abuse and added them to my trust exclusion too.

~DEGATON44
~mafoja1
~MAMUN74

There have been so many cases of suspected merit abuse reported in various threads over the years that I'd bet it's well over 100.  I'm sure it would be more than that were it not for the fact that Theymos told the community not to make a big deal about it--but either way, if the community wants to start tagging merit abusers with enough evidence against them, I sure as hell would be fine with it and if the forum detectives start looking closely enough I've no doubt this thread would end up with 1000 pages within a year.
legendary
Activity: 3332
Merit: 6809
Cashback 15%
I've just tagged the three of them, but I doubt very much that we will be able to catch many cases.
There have been so many cases of suspected merit abuse reported in various threads over the years that I'd bet it's well over 100.  I'm sure it would be more than that were it not for the fact that Theymos told the community not to make a big deal about it--but either way, if the community wants to start tagging merit abusers with enough evidence against them, I sure as hell would be fine with it and if the forum detectives start looking closely enough I've no doubt this thread would end up with 1000 pages within a year.

I guess this is a consequence of your weekly merit requirement for the campaign.
No doubt it is, because I've noticed that there haven't been nearly as many threads dealing with merits in Meta.  When somebody like yahoo62278 throws in a merit requirement for a campaign, those shitposters who were lucky enough to get into one of his campaigns start sweating bullets and doing stupid shit like this.

There will be more cases, no doubt.
legendary
Activity: 2240
Merit: 2174
Need PR/CMC & CG? TG @The_Cryptovator
Selling merits for merit sources is prohibited. Theymos strongly discouraged from tagging for merit circulation unless there is solid evidence of buy/sell merits. I no longer tag merit abusers if there is no solid proof of buy/sell. Based on suspicions, I believe you should remove him from the campaign without tag. But tag is fine if someone admit he bought merits. You also have your own campaign rules where you can tag if something is punishable.
legendary
Activity: 3584
Merit: 4420
It is the fault of the community, not of the merit buyers. The users in question of buying had decent posts, but nobody cared to send any kind of merit. For them there is no merit receiving so they can't send to others as well. Because merit is moving arround for some users only 10-20 per year makes it impossible to circulate and attract new users not to look to buy.

So overall, blame yourselves.
I think anyone Legendary rank should only get 1-2 merits from users if someone is going to merit a Legendary since the merit is not very useful except in giving Legendary ranks more merits to send out, but I strongly disagree that it's our faults that lower ranks aren't merited.

People think that because they met the section requirements, stayed semi on topic, and hit character counts that their post is a good post. They're wrong!!! So many users repeat the same opinions because they're just looking to qualify to get paid in a campaign. They do the minimum as fast as allowed so they make a few bucks, that doesn't mean they posted great quality.

People with good quality posts stick out compared to the majority. Yes, there is some self-scratching but that is happening on all levels, so it evens out IMO.
legendary
Activity: 2828
Merit: 6108
Blackjack.fun
The users in question of buying had decent posts, but nobody cared to send any kind of merit.

Can you point to those decent posts?
Cause looking at his history this is all I see:

Quote
Bitcoin price already touched in 68k+ in 2021 but it early dropped in very next year.Bitcoin staying $40k around this year even April month bitcoin price was around $40k but this month bitcoin price dropped and hold $31k.I hope bitcoin price will be recover in november's month this year.But market condition very hard to predict bitcoin price. I hope bitcoin price will be more grow like 2021.
~
I think it will happen coming days.Now market condition very hard and very hard to predict bitcoin price. This month bitcoin price staying $28k-30k.For my experienced,Bitcoin price was under $25k but it already touched in $68k+ in 2021 too.But bitcoin price early dropped in 2022 and bitcoin price was around $40k previous 2-3 month.I hope bitcoin price will be more improve this year and bitcoin will be more grow in this year.
~
Bitcoin price early dropped in 2022 and now huge dropping day by day.Bitcoin already touched in 68$k but now it dropped and reached $19k+.Bitcoin price early dropped in this month cz previous month bitcoin was around $37k+  and it was staying around $40k+.I think bitcoin price will be recover soon and bitcoin price wil be more grow in future.
~
Bitcoin price already dumped and touched $17k and too early to happen. But bitcoin price early dropped in 2022 and staying 3-4month around $40k+ but last 2 month bitcoin price dropped  unrespectable. Bitcoin price touched $68k+ in 2021.we know Bitcoin has always up to a new ATH every dip so maybe we see 75k+ next pump.
~
I believe bitcoin price still movement correction. Bitcoin price already touched in $68k+ in 2021 but it early dropped in, 2022.Bitcoin price staying around $38-40k+ long time but it dropped and reached under $18k.I think bitcoin price will be more this year.And bitcoin price will hit $30k again in coming days.

Pages over pages of what the price was a year ago and two months ago and ending with the hope of it going up in the future, hundreds of posts with the same structure, the same useless data that nobody needs, the same two or three lines of nothing but you put some numbers there, so it must be a decent post, cause using numbers shows much knowledge. Such wow posts! Much doge impressed!

This is the same shit that has been happening in gambling where everyone is posting the current score and the obvious useless phrase that if team A Scores more goals than team B it will win the game and here you go, the quota for the gambling board done without even knowing how to place a real bet.
member
Activity: 429
Merit: 52
It is the fault of the community, not of the merit buyers. The users in question of buying had decent posts, but nobody cared to send any kind of merit. For them there is no merit receiving so they can't send to others as well. Because merit is moving arround for some users only 10-20 per year makes it impossible to circulate and attract new users not to look to buy.

So overall, blame yourselves.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1735
Crypto Swap Exchange
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1735
Crypto Swap Exchange
Noticed the accounts which sent Merits both earned between 1 and 2 spendable Merit points from a thread where they posted an Encrypted Message (link).  I just published a reply over there to let OP know as I am now afraid some Newbie accounts are using the thread to farm spendable Merits and then sell them off.

I feel a little bit bored so I might try to look this up a bit more, since there might be an actual pattern of many more accounts doing the same thing.

-
Regards,
PrivacyG
legendary
Activity: 3248
Merit: 3098
I looked at Mamun74 post history, I have to admit that I am surprised that he was accepted in a slightly better campaign. Is it possible that there are not enough quality full members?
btw. I see that he has already switched to the 1xbit campaign, where he obviously belongs.

I'll suggest that to achieve your aim, pay your participants per post. If it's $1 per post and maximum of 25 posts per week. Then a poster makes 25 posts in all and out of which is 17 quality post, you pay them $17. Next week, they will pay attention to their post quality.

this seems so simple in theory, but in reality, it would mean that the manager would spend too much time explaining to spammers why some of their posts were not accepted. just look at one of the telegram bounty groups where hunters send their complaints, I can't even imagine what all the managers get in private messages.
legendary
Activity: 1092
Merit: 1024
Hello Leo! You can still win.
...I guess this is a consequence of your weekly merit requirement for the campaign.

...Do you think that in general the rule has been positive?
Positive for the forum? Yes and no I suppose. Yes, because I feel like it made some users care a little more about their quality, but no because I think it opened the door for people to figure ways around it.

...I decided in the end that keeping the rule as is was going to do more harm than good though. My end goal was to try to improve quality, not to install fear and deception into users.

That is the nature of man. He is adaptive and finds a means to survive whatever the society throws at him. A crooked man especially can be so smart and adaptive.
As a manager, you must have understood that the quality of posts have improved since you enacted the rule. But in some rare situations and with a more careful scrutiny, you will see a less quality post receiving 1 merit and a more quality post recieve none. As a manager you know the quality posters in your campaign, then your conscience wouldn't allow you to kick a quality poster because he failed to earn a merit, and retain a less quality poster who maneuvered his way.

I'll suggest that to achieve your aim, pay your participants per post. If it's $1 per post and maximum of 25 posts per week. Then a poster makes 25 posts in all and out of which is 17 quality post, you pay them $17. Next week, they will pay attention to their post quality.
legendary
Activity: 3584
Merit: 4420
manager, after you catch it and remove it from your campaign. now he switches to promote 1xbit casino scam. with this being clear, he is indeed on the forum just for the money. even after the account was tagged, now he is trying to destroy it.
it shows he is making every effort to stay in your campaign including buying merit. or maybe a merit transaction with the alt account.


Most users are here with the intent of making money. If they weren't you wouldn't see signature campaigns, bounty campaigns, or any paid promotions because there wouldn't be anyone trying to participate. Look at the number of designers offering services or the number of campaign managers. We are all here making money. Very few that aren't.

Now the user in question has messaged asking for forgiveness but I have not replied because I feel he doesn't really feel sorry he cheated, but more sorry he got caught. So in his mind, his account is ruined. What does he have to lose?
hero member
Activity: 1050
Merit: 657
manager, after you catch it and remove it from your campaign. now he switches to promote 1xbit casino scam. with this being clear, he is indeed on the forum just for the money. even after the account was tagged, now he is trying to destroy it.
it shows he is making every effort to stay in your campaign including buying merit. or maybe a merit transaction with the alt account.

legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 7064
Cashback 15%
I'll be tagging all 3 accounts as cheating and merit selling should not be tolerated. If any of you have proof of this type of activity, feel free to post here and help stop these cheaters.
So he is student coming from poor family, and he is ready to accept money for merits Cheesy
It doesn't really help very much tagging newbie accounts like Degaton44 because they can easily create new ones, but I don't think we have any other options at the moment.
Who knows how many people sold merits, but I think there are a lot of them, and I remember I saw offers for this on other websites/forums and fiverr.

If you look at history: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.45759941, @Mamun74 bad, he has multiple accounts, it's hard to say he bought (Merit), although he admits he did.
Eight known accounts from 2018, it's probably more of them in the end of 2022.  Tongue
full member
Activity: 1444
Merit: 156
#SWGT PRE-SALE IS LIVE
I've just tagged the three of them, but I doubt very much that we will be able to catch many cases.

I guess this is a consequence of your weekly merit requirement for the campaign.

This is something I understand you did with good intentions to ensure a quality campaign. But if I, who earn merits at almost double the rate the activity, quit a campaign of yours because I wasn't sure I could meet the requirement every week, things like this don't surprise me.

Do you think that in general the rule has been positive?
Positive for the forum? Yes and no I suppose. Yes, because I feel like it made some users care a little more about their quality, but no because I think it opened the door for people to figure ways around it.

Looking at the merit histories, it's very curious to me that some users earned exactly 1 merit each week. Does that instantly make them a cheater, no but it makes me want to pay attention to them more and see if my hunch is correct. I decided in the end that keeping the rule as is was going to do more harm than good though. My end goal was to try to improve quality, not to install fear and deception into users.
I'm on your side,, I'm not one of the good posters either but the 1 merit/week rule is really challenging. I rarely check winz campaign spreadsheets maybe because I wasn't part of the campaign but several accounts joined, I noticed they've started upping their posts, which means your terms and goals run successfully.
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 583
Bons.io Telegram Casino
I fully support your campaign rules. Great for encouraging members to make quality improvements to posts. but there will always be a downside to a rule. and what you've found right now is one of them.
now more people will probably pay attention to your campaign spreadsheet. because maybe not only 1 or 2 accounts make such mistakes.
legendary
Activity: 3584
Merit: 4420
I've just tagged the three of them, but I doubt very much that we will be able to catch many cases.

I guess this is a consequence of your weekly merit requirement for the campaign.

This is something I understand you did with good intentions to ensure a quality campaign. But if I, who earn merits at almost double the rate the activity, quit a campaign of yours because I wasn't sure I could meet the requirement every week, things like this don't surprise me.

Do you think that in general the rule has been positive?
Positive for the forum? Yes and no I suppose. Yes, because I feel like it made some users care a little more about their quality, but no because I think it opened the door for people to figure ways around it.

Looking at the merit histories, it's very curious to me that some users earned exactly 1 merit each week. Does that instantly make them a cheater, no but it makes me want to pay attention to them more and see if my hunch is correct. I decided in the end that keeping the rule as is was going to do more harm than good though. My end goal was to try to improve quality, not to install fear and deception into users.
legendary
Activity: 2086
Merit: 1759
If you look at history: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.45759941, @Mamun74 bad, he has multiple accounts, it's hard to say he bought (Merit), although he admits he did.

Like you said.
He actually confessed.

There are several options in cases like this.
1. The user creates a destination Alt (beginner) account to redeem (Merit).
2. Or maybe he bought (Merit) from the account you mentioned above or based on information from the user who gave it via telegram to you.
It could be done, but why did he buy only one (1) Merit, how much would that 1 Merit cost if he bought it.... curious.

But my guess is that the user transfers merit between Alt, considering that there is no valid evidence submitted by other users in your telegram, the reason I match these users is based on the Alt they have a lot, besides that the other two accounts were beginners, he could have made him do that.

That's based on my argument, maybe if there is other evidence leads like the title of this thread, good enough and professional.
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 2017
I've just tagged the three of them, but I doubt very much that we will be able to catch many cases.

I guess this is a consequence of your weekly merit requirement for the campaign.

This is something I understand you did with good intentions to ensure a quality campaign. But if I, who earn merits at almost double the rate the activity, quit a campaign of yours because I wasn't sure I could meet the requirement every week, things like this don't surprise me.

Do you think that in general the rule has been positive?
legendary
Activity: 3584
Merit: 4420
Today I received a message from a user on telegram about a user in the winz.io campaign who was buying merits. I spoke with the user and told them, "Without proof there is nothing I can do".

After speaking with this user, I also decided to message the person he was referring to as well as look into his merit history. While looking into his merit history I seen 2 suspicious profiles

DEGATON44 who hadn't posted since April 2021.

mafoja1 who hadn't posted since April 2022.

MAMUN74 the cheater

Both profiles looked fishy and made me wonder why they would give merits if they don't even use the forum? So, I told the guy being accused that I kind of believed the guy messaging me and buying merits is cheating. He actually confessed.

I'll be tagging all 3 accounts as cheating and merit selling should not be tolerated. If any of you have proof of this type of activity, feel free to post here and help stop these cheaters.



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