Topic: Comprehensive guide to Bitcointalk. Newbie friendly + calculator and infographic (Read 4078 times)

thank you for this info...

I am a new comer here. Thanks so much for such comprehensive guide. This is the most user-friendly forum.

Thanks for the valuable post to share with us!

I appreciate this post, it helped me understand how things work. I know this was posted in 2017, but I also saw you updated it several months ago.
Thank you once again for keeping this up to date and a wholesome source of information <3

Just a 2 years bump. I see the calculator is still active

Great guide, particularly liked the infographics!

Thanks for the note, there are other things that need to be changed too but this requires more time in front of the computer like the new trust system and some new restrictions. I'll update the correct number of merit sources and will add a link to the number of sources to the tranthidung's thread, so from now on I won't keep a track here in the thread if there is already a dedicated thread for it.

Because of the bump from ChibitCity, I found that the figure of total merit sources in OP is incorrect. Please update it when you have spare time.
Temporarily, there are 98 merit souces in total.
I have my thread: Merit source observations
If you think that thread is helpful, I hope it will be included in your OP.

Great post that would be even more helpful if pinned. Coming here as a newbie I was completely lost. Wish I had this to reference.. Deserves a bump.

The number of merit sources updated.
Some small changes, typos and wrong spellings corrected (found after so many months). If you spot anything let me know.

Thank you , I always forget to update the merit source numbers, as they change not so often.

I started this thread long before the merit system but what I had back then was only the rank-up calculator, and a simple explanation how the activity system is working.
After the merit systems came in place, the calculator was not so useful anymore so I added some extra info I found during that time.

Edited: Exactly one year ago I started this thread. Celebrating 1y anniversary today:)

---

Updated the number of merit sources, I think I'll keep a track here in this thread.

---

A little bump to remind me to update the Trust system in the near future.

Nice guide you’ve got there @Iasenko. I see that you try to keep it up-to-date, so just to let you know that the Q/A relative to Merit Sources currently shows 79 as the number of profiles with that role, instead of the running 119 (awarding up to 22.045 sMerits every 30 days).

One general confusion which I often find is that newer people tend to think that when they Merit someone, they are actually sending Merit from their Merit counter and not the (not so visible) sMerit counter, being the Merit counter one that never decreases (safe for a single exception in the past that I’m aware of whereby some merit TXs were reversed due to clear abuse).

Good one, I'll add it to the General Forum Q/A or maybe to the link section;
Thanks, if you think other info should be added let me know.

---

Updated, I've added it to the Forum rules and guidelines subsection.

This thread would help newbies and also older members. Topic title style guide
Too often users abuse the tools available when starting threads, and this reduces the quality of the write-up.

Made some updates now. A bit more explanation about the DTs. Also included new links in the resource.
Hope to get an update of the infographic too with accordance to the new rules.

---

Yet another update, added new section and some steps you have to take as a newbie to secure your account and to avoid being banned and fixed the infographic as I informed 8Habits that his infographic is outdated but is offline for over a month now.

---

Another small changes are made, Add some extra info in the General Forum Q/A. BTW if there are any other interesting topics you think I need to cover, let me know

Just open a new sub-section Learning and Courses + external links in Additional useful and entertaining threads

I'll be happy if I can gather more info there with your help. If you see a valuable info that can fit into my list, drop a comment here so I'll add it

Another bump here.
Please suggest threads to be added to the lists. I'll try to keep it up to date:)

Yes, but note that you have to have at least 1 post in the two weeks time span in order to get the 14 activity. If you don't post during the new two weeks period you will loose the 14 points for this period.
Hope it's not too complicated.

In this example you are saying our extra activity will be counted instantly with the first post after two weeks period.Is that means our posts are not going to wasted and still count as activities for the next two weeks period?

If you don't post in this two weeks time span you miss the 14 activity.

OK got it. But what about missed fortnight cycles, I mean if didn't post and then started to do so a month later, could I receive 28 activities of previous month in one week?

I have been reading and learning since day one though I have not posting " I've done lot of reading" .Further if I want to post only for counting thing then i only need to post just one post per day just like you. But I want to be a part of this forum and interactive with other members,not only for say hi or to be one liner. Do you think that everyone want to be just like you.No I'm different and btw feel free to check what I have posted and then criticise

Your post count is increasing every time you make a post, same if you / or mods/  delete one, it will decrease.
The activity is increasing with every post you make / updating every 15 min or something/  but cannot go over 14 activity points for two weeks. 

Example:
So if you have 100 activity in the beginning of the two weeks period and you make 15 posts in the first two days your activity will go up to 114, because you reached your limit for those two weeks. Every post will increase your post count^* but not your activity until the start of the next two weeks period.

* There are boards where if you post your post count doest change.
- Serious Discussions
- Ivory Tower

thanks for this infomation it was really helpful but i still got something confusing me, sometimes when i make a post instead of my activity to increase my post will increase why is it so?

Why would that motivate you to post more?
You should post when you have something to say, not because of some post counting system.
I've done a lot of reading since I joined but posted just few times.

This really motivates me to posting more than 14 posts per two week period,this information I never found earlier in this forum and again big thank you for your valuble contribution for the forum and such a great way of explaining facts which I didn't know before

Thanks to vlad230 I found some phishing links in the rules in my post forwarding to bitcointalk.to.
If anyone tried to login in trough this site, please change your password immediately!!
All the links are now corrected!

Exactly, you never loose points,  they're just rounded to whole number so you can't send 0.5.

Hmmmm.... 

So, if I get 1 merit + 1 merit then I have 1 sMerit in total?

Yes, if you get only one, you actually have 0.5 sMerit, which you can't send /for now, there can be some changes in the rules in the future/ until you receive one more.

Thank you for such detailed clarification of ranks and merits systems.
So, if you get 2 merits then you can send 1 merit to someone else, right?
And if you get 1 merit you can't send anything?

Hi, here is the video of the Merit system and how to level up rank. hope can be added into your thread and help more people to understand in a relaxing way. https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.31889906

Just an observation, although I admire your dedication to certain threads (Titanium, Snovio, Litecoincash and Moonlite), your posts - at least since the merit system was introduced - are almost exclusively on these 4 threads. This is unlikely to earn you any merit, as with the thousands of threads that are on the forum, someone would have to be on one of these particular threads and be interested in your post to merit you. You need to 'spread your wings' if you want to earn merit, delve into other topics that interest you as well as projects that (presumably) you are invested in. If you want to see what posts are earning merit, click the link below that was provided by the OP. If shows where (lots of) merit points are being handed out, at least the more frequent places, and who is giving them.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;stats

If you want to get more specific info on particular people and who they give/receive their merit points to/from, just click on their profile and then click the merit option in their profile summary. It gives an interesting insight into what different people value on the forum, and consequently where you are more likely to earn merit points by posting.

That said, you are genuinely using the forum as it was designed, to learn and educate on specific areas that you personally are interested in, so fair play to you. I'll give you a merit for that.

P.S. Nice concise guide by the OP, the links combined in one post are very handy.

Yes, you need to collect 10 merits in order to rank up to member. By learning and helping the community you will achieve those points in no time, so avoid spam and one line posts and you are on the right way

Just added new section for "Useful and entertaining threads".
If there are useful threads for newbies, please point them out so I can include them in the list
Planning later to rearrange everything and probably  will change the Subject line too. It's getting way toooo long now.
Reduced the size of the infographic.


People's perceptions of the quality of posts follows some rules but it really varies from individual to individual.  Something that is valuable to you doesn't mean that is valuable to everyone.

Thanks. I did not realize that the merit system was so new (less than a few weeks old).  Will have patience and will keep posting to my favourite threads. Many interesting  discussions on these forums!

Yes, just give it some time. It's just 20 days since it was introduced so big part of the community is not aware of it yet. When the time comes to rank up, they will find out about the Merit and how it works and will begin to distribute it too.

  I am posting consistently with quality replies (not just "hi" or "this site is great" or "I agree").  I am accruing many posts (over 180)  but my merit remains pinned at "10" or at a newbie to jr member level.  Quite the discrepancy between the amount I am posting, my activity  and the merit value. 

Not understanding the merit system at all.

I guess all I can do is continue to post (because the topics interest me) and let the "merit" and "activity" take care of itself (HOPEFULLY) over time.

 

I also like the new system. Although it will be difficult to rank up, it will definitely weed out the spammers/broken-English, non-nonsensical ramblings that occur on here. I think the people did that just to quickly rank up, and now it de-incentivizes them from doing so.

The new system will be good, but I think many of us will ignore awarding quality posts. Sometimes, we just look for info and we skip awarding contributor.

Yup, agreed, I think the panic about the forum's imminent death is premature. I'm even kinda happy I wasn't a more senior rank about to level up... that would suck big time.

With regards to spam, I hope it will help curtail it, BUT someone else brought up a valid point that newbies might start spamming even more in hopes of getting merit at least for something. We'll see.

Hoping for some adjustments though. The system is a bit complicated.

I think this is one solution to all the spam here. It's easy to reach 10 Merit points if you post quality posts. From 10 to 100 is a bit more difficult for Full member. We are still in the beginnig of the new system, hope that with the time the system will be adjusted. Lets see what happens from now on.

With the introduction of the new merit points system in addition to activity, leveling up is now impossible to predict. I still like your spreadsheet and I'm keeping it in my bookmarks, but man... what a bummer.

For those who missed the news: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/merit-new-rank-requirements-2818350

What do you guys think about merits?

Thank you, just corrected the mistake.

Misprint
Merti points -> Merit points

Now the game has changed and for the newcomers coming only for the bounties it will be difficult. Now you have to contribute to the forum and earn Merit points in order to rank-up.
I have updated the calculator with the Merit point system. More information you will find in the calculator
Good luck

You can accumulate 14 activity every 2weeks so 1activity everyday and when you reach 30 you will be promoted to jr. Member and then multiply it buy two to be member and so on

You can get one activity every time you post but its maximum if 14 and it will accumulate every 2weeks and in jr member you need 30 activity so atleast 1month,member 2months,full member 4months and so on be because every rank the actuvity required will be double.

Im pretty sure every 2 weeks you can have 14 activity points so its like 7/7 ..... 7 points a week . so to get full member should be at 4.5 months . you need 126 points of activity. dont worry about that you will get it soon.join some bounty campains too will do good for you.

Keep in mind that legendary is a bit more tricky >
I am happy that you people find the calculator useful

Interesting. If you post correctly, it will take you just over 2 years to level up to Legendary. When I started out a few years ago, I just posted frequently, because I liked the forum and before I knew it, I reached Legendary. The secret to the success for this, is not to post on the forum to rank up. Come in daily and look for something that interest you and then just chat about it or ask questions to gain more knowledge. 

Time goes by very quickly and before you know it, you will be a Legendary member of this forum.  ^smile^

Wow it enlightens me. Thanks for this post. I now understand how does activity points work. So grateful this post helps a lot for newbies like me. I really thought that you need to post the exact 14posts per 2weeks.

I was enlightened now, thanks for the information. This explains the additional count i experienced before. I thought the website just experiencing error and my comment got posted twice. So i guess 14posts per week is not a limitation, the excess will still be used on the future. I've been thinking to post just the exact 14 post so that others won't get wasted, i understand now.

Oh man, this is great to know! Explains how I got more Activity immediately after recalculation took place.

Thanks for the calculator OP. Fun to play with.

The calculations looks correct till now.Got my Activity points today as planned so I guess first test has been passed successfully.


Yeah just experienced it myself that if you post more than 14 post per 2 weeks the extra posts automatically generate Activity points after your first comment in the new 2 weeks time span. This is great.

Here is a little gem of knowledge that's often omitted from all activity calculator discussion: If you make more than 14 posts a fortnight, they don't go to waste. The excess posts will count as additional activity in the future activity periods where you've made less than 14 posts.

 
Here you will find everything you need to know regarding the forum structure,ranking system and trust.Please take your time to read through this post and check the bottom section for additional resources. If you still have questions, try using the SEARCH OPTION first,/if you don't know how to use the search follow this link/ and if you still can't find what you are looking for ask here in this thread.
Let's keep the forum clean and tidy.

---

Sections

FIRST STEPS AS A NEWBIE
THE RANKING SYSTEM
THE CALCULATOR
THE ACTIVITY SYSTEM
THE MERIT SYSTEM
THE TRUST SYSTEM
INFOGRAPHIC
Q/A FORUM SECTION
USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING THREADS

---

First Steps as a Newbie >
There are few steps you can do before you start with the forum.

WARNING, The main reason for banning in the forum is plagiarism, avoid copy/pasting without mentioning the source and you will be OK.
WARNING, some projects ask you to install their wallets. Never use a computer where you store funds or log in to the forum ( or other trusted websites).

1. Read the rules.
2. Go through this thread Newbies - Read before posting
3. Stake a bitcoin address and sing a message from it. This is for security reasons. Follow these instructions > How to sign a message guide
4. Be sure to know how to secure your account, follow those tips > [Guide] Bitcointalk account security
5. After completing those 4 steps above now you are ready to browse trough the forum and post here is a guide. Below you will find extra info of the forum itself.

All above links you can find in the USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING THREADS section on the bottom of the page.

---

The ranking system >

Let us begin with the ranking system in Bitcontalk. This is an overview of what you need to achieve in order to rank up as a member.

________________	_____________________	________________
RANK	Activity Pages: Bitcoin Forum>Other>Beginners & Help Jump to: Please select a destination: Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion ===> Legal ===> Press ===> Meetups ===> Important Announcements => Development & Technical Discussion ===> Wallet software =====> Electrum =====> Bitcoin Wallet for Android =====> BitcoinJ =====> Armory =====> Mycelium =====> Hardware wallets => Bitcoin Technical Support => Project Development => Mining ===> Mining support ===> Pools ===> Mining software (miners) ===> Hardware =====> Group buys ===> Mining speculation Economy => Economics ===> Speculation => Marketplace ===> Currency exchange ===> Gambling =====> Games and rounds =====> Investor-based games =====> Gambling discussion ===> Lending =====> Long-term offers ===> Securities ===> Auctions ===> Service Announcements =====> Micro Earnings ===> Service Discussion =====> Web Wallets =====> Exchanges ===> Goods =====> Computer hardware =====> Digital goods =======> Invites & Accounts =====> Collectibles ===> Services => Trading Discussion ===> Scam Accusations ===> Reputation Other => Meta ===> New forum software ===> Bitcoin Wiki => Beginners & Help => Off-topic => Serious discussion ===> Ivory Tower => Archival ===> Chinese students ===> Obsolete (buying) ===> Obsolete (selling) ===> MultiBit ===> CPU/GPU Bitcoin mining hardware ===> Корзина => Politics & Society Alternate cryptocurrencies => Altcoin Discussion => Announcements (Altcoins) ===> Tokens (Altcoins) => Mining (Altcoins) ===> Pools (Altcoins) => Marketplace (Altcoins) ===> Service Announcements (Altcoins) ===> Service Discussion (Altcoins) ===> Bounties (Altcoins) => Speculation (Altcoins) Local => العربية (Arabic) ===> العملات البديلة (Altcoins) =====> النقاشات ===> إستفسارات و أسئلة المبتدئين ===> التعدين ===> النقاشات الأخرى ===> منصات التبادل => Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) ===> Mining (Bahasa Indonesia) ===> Altcoins (Bahasa Indonesia) ===> Trading dan Spekulasi ===> Ekonomi, Politik, dan Budaya ===> Topik Lainnya ===> Marketplace (Bahasa Indonesia) => 中文 (Chinese) ===> 跳蚤市场 ===> 山寨币 ===> 媒体 ===> 挖矿 ===> 离题万里 => Hrvatski (Croatian) ===> Trgovina ===> Altcoins (Hrvatski) =====> Announcements (Hrvatski) ===> Off-topic (Hrvatski) => Français ===> Vos sites et projets ===> Hors-sujet ===> Actualité et News ===> Débutants ===> Discussions générales et utilisation du Bitcoin ===> Mining et Hardware ===> Économie et spéculation ===> Place de marché =====> Produits et services =====> Petites annonces =====> Échanges ===> Le Bitcoin et la loi ===> Wiki, documentation et traduction ===> Développement et technique ===> Altcoins (Français) =====> Annonces => India ===> Mining (India) ===> Marketplace (India) ===> Regional Languages (India) ===> Press & News from India ===> Alt Coins (India) ===> Buyer/ Seller Reputations (India) ===> Off-Topic (India) => Italiano (Italian) ===> Guide (Italiano) ===> Progetti ===> Discussioni avanzate e sviluppo ===> Trading, analisi e speculazione ===> Mercato =====> Mercato valute =====> Beni =====> Servizi =====> Esercizi commerciali =====> Hardware/Mining (Italiano) =====> Gambling (Italiano) ===> Accuse scam/truffe ===> Mining (Italiano) ===> Alt-Currencies (Italiano) =====> Annunci ===> Raduni/Meeting (Italiano) ===> Crittografia e decentralizzazione ===> Off-Topic (Italiano) => Nederlands (Dutch) ===> Markt ===> Gokken/lotterijen ===> Mining (Nederlands) ===> Beurzen ===> Alt Coins (Nederlands) ===> Off-topic (Nederlands) ===> Meetings (Nederlands) => 한국어 (Korean) ===> 대체코인 Alt Coins (한국어) => Русский (Russian) ===> Новички ===> Бизнес =====> Барахолка =====> Обменники ===> Идеи ===> Кодеры ===> Майнеры ===> Политика ===> Трейдеры ===> Альтернативные криптовалюты =====> Токены =====> Бayнти и aиpдpoпы ===> Хайпы ===> Работа ===> Разное ===> Oбcyждeниe Bitcoin =====> Новости =====> Юристы => Română (Romanian) ===> Anunturi importante ===> Presa ===> Offtopic ===> Market =====> Discutii Servicii ===> Minerit ===> Tutoriale ===> Bine ai venit! ===> Altcoins (Monede Alternative) =====> Anunturi Monede Alternative => Skandinavisk => Türkçe (Turkish) ===> Bitcoin Haberleri ===> Ekonomi ===> Servisler =====> Fonlar ===> Alternatif Kripto-Paralar =====> Madencilik (Alternatif Kripto-Paralar) =====> Duyurular (Alternatif Kripto-Paralar) ===> Pazar Alanı ===> Madencilik ===> Proje Geliştirme ===> Konu Dışı ===> Yeni Başlayanlar & Yardım ===> Buluşmalar => Português (Portuguese) ===> Primeiros Passos (Iniciantes) ===> Economia & Mercado ===> Criptomoedas Alternativas ===> Brasil ===> Portugal ===> Mineração em Geral ===> Desenvolvimento & Discussões Técnicas => עברית (Hebrew) => Pilipinas ===> Altcoins (Pilipinas) =====> Altcoin Announcements (Pilipinas) ===> Pamilihan ===> Others (Pilipinas) => 日本語 (Japanese) ===> アルトコイン => Español (Spanish) ===> Mercado y Economía =====> Servicios =====> Trading y especulación ===> Hardware y Minería ===> Esquina Libre ===> Mercadillo =====> Mexico =====> Argentina =====> Centroamerica y Caribe =====> España ===> Primeros pasos y ayuda ===> Altcoins (criptomonedas alternativas) =====> Servicios =====> Minería de altcoins =====> Tokens (Español) => Deutsch (German) ===> Mining (Deutsch) ===> Trading und Spekulation ===> Projektentwicklung ===> Off-Topic (Deutsch) ===> Treffen ===> Presse ===> Altcoins (Deutsch) =====> Announcements (Deutsch) ===> Marktplatz =====> Auktionen =====> Suche =====> Biete ===> Anfänger und Hilfe => Ελληνικά (Greek) ===> Αγορά ===> Mining Discussion (Ελληνικά) ===> Altcoins (Ελληνικά) =====> Altcoin Announcements (Ελληνικά) =====> Altcoin Mining (Ελληνικά) => Other languages/locations => Polski ===> Tablica ogłoszeń ===> Alternatywne kryptowaluty =====> Nowe kryptowaluty i tokeny =====> Tablica ogłoszeń (altcoiny) => Nigeria (Naija) ===> Politics and society (Naija) ===> Off-topic (Naija) go