Topic: CORRECTING THE NEWBIES' MISCONCEPTION: High Rankers Are Not Bullies. (Read 444 times)

I have come across several threads where some newbies complain of been answered without manner by some higher ranked members which in my opinion is not proper from both end; the newbie should have overlooked any comment that looks offensive to them, while only take the important messages from other comments been made by other users; likewise the higher ranked users are also not supposed to be hashed because they were ones newbies and started from somewhere before getting to wherever they are now.
The main advice to all newbies is to stop looking for excuses if they get any wired reply from any users, they should focus and learn from other comments instead of making compliant because this is a public forum and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

OP good thing you saw it differently because not every newbies or low ranked members sees this whole bully or the correction thing the way you see it, some do make mistakes and when they are being corrected it only looks like the high ranked members are acting like he or she knows it all and it will be like a must or you know nothing about what you saying. I have been there before but thank God that the one who corrected me when I first got here did it in a way I can understand and learn from it and that's @lovesmayfamilis.
One thing we all need to know is that is not everyone who knows how to teach without making the learner to look so small and OP I must tell you and other low ranked members that is not all high ranked members who knows it all, some are willing to learn from anybody be you high or low ranked members so nobody should see learning or the way you're being corrected as bullying, it happens but try and ignore the way and manner high ranked members approach you base on correcting you.

The high rankers are not even bullies in the first place. This is a forum and if they wish to, they can guide you and if they don’t wish to, no one can stop them or penalise them. Guiding lower rank members is just to keep the forum sane and enjoy of flow of discussion without being littered with something not wanted here which they can be penalised for. Any newbie that decides to take the advise is for their own good and if they don’t, the wrath of the forum won’t spare them when they violate a rule that is punishable by offense immediately without warning.

Having personal issues or thinking high rank members are bullies is just their own mindset and way of thinking, they should do what they want and face what they won’t like and lastly leave the forum. This is a public forum, it doesn’t consent anyone to be above the other, agree with or disagree with someone if you find something unbelievable. It’s all personal choice and how you farewell here says a lot about how well you’ll go in this forum with exceptions still.

The forum is like a national society that is complicated enough with so many people from different geographical areas, nations and they actually have different Socioeconomic status (SES) so that finding absolute agreement on from other forum members, how we treat each other in this online forum is impossible.

Furthermore in online digital environment, people can be more strongly showing their opinion, using harsh words of mouth and more. So if we disagree with anyone in the forum, we can discuss firstly but along the discussion process, if we smell that we can not find agreement, let it be and move on.

We have more important things to do, rather than arguing with each other forever that eats our precious time budget and can affect our mentality and happiness too.

Its part of the process and people should learn that to grow. But there are few people doesn't take any correction since what they think they had been bullied by high rank which is wrong thinking for them.

If they could just accept their mistake then try to correct it base on the explanation given by the person who correct their wrong misconceptions then for sure everything will be good on their side. I see no growth for people who have high ego and think always that they are right. But for those people eager to learn and lower down their pride when they are corrected usually they are one succeed since they could able to learn by suggestions and corrections of people around them.

You’re right mate and it seems easy for him because he already few maybe thick skin to the criticism and most times, you’ll agree that it’s not always easy absorbing some very extremely rude words for a work the op has taken maybe so much time to put together and we should also take into account that a lot of these newbies might just be totally new to the online world and forum or online community and this might just be their very first time messing out things like this and definitely it wouldn’t be easy for such a newbie and I think in cases like this, extremely negative feedback wouldn’t be nice but I’m sure we can’t even tell who’s who right ?

Whatever the case might be, newbies should learn how to respond respectfully to people higher ranked than them or even same rank with them as we don’t actually know who’s who

Constructive criticism and corrections are part of learning. If you don’t accept your mistakes and is not willing to be corrected, you are not here to learn but most likely to prove to anyone that you are good enough, when you really are not. So newbies who have this kind of mindset only show that they are not open to new ideas and suggestions, and that made me ask if how they will be able to learn when they don’t even accept corrections.

My point here is it’s okay to accept mistakes and be corrected. It’s not bullying, rather a form of educating.  I believe these high rankers these days were also corrected when they were newbies, and because they are willing to be corrected by those who are ahead of them, they have reached their current position and have proven their growth and progress in the forum.

It’s actually a normal thing in a learning process either online and offline. A flashback to our childhood days and during our school days, we could get a clear picture of what op is trying to explain. Most of us passed through the same process and we can not deny doing same. One must not always accept the criticism easily because not all are actually sensible. However, it shouldn’t be an habit for a learner to pick offense in every criticism.

Moreover, there are criticisms that comes in the form of insults and disrespect, such criticism should not be always tolerated all in the name of you want to learn. Anyone who’s genuinely ready to correct you will use a more decent and civil manner to do so, not by anger unless the learner proved to be stubborn.

Heck, if anything, they're already being spoonfed — being directly told what they actually need to do to be able to rank up. It's just that most of them aren't interested in doing the work. You simply can't expect to climb the ranks with the knowledge of a person who just reads article headlines. They just need to dig deeper.

Well said, to start with, troll does not exist only on this platform, as to the best of my knowledge, this is one of the best platforms you can discover to be well regulated in other to avoid trollers and scammers or shit posters, since the ignore button is there, once you detect any one, ignore them to avoid future occurrence, if you're more convinced of the evil they bear or could use to affect others, tag them with your evidence as proof, this is not bully or action taken against the newbies found in this category, instead you're contributing towards avoiding the establishment or stay of those categories on this forum.

A message for all beginners and so-called "low ranks" - it is not the point to listen to and respect higher ranks, but to pay attention to what they write on the forum. Rank is something that before could only be achieved by spamming the forum, so instead of ranks, respect the people behind those ranks if they deserve it.

Most of us knew at least one full or senior member from the new era (after merits) who is "legendary" in his contribution to the forum, but we also all know a couple of Hero/Legendary who never left the newbie status.

Losing interest is totally on them it means they are not ready enough to learn m, things doesn’t come easy so they need to understand that there will be challenges along the line and if they heed to higher rank members advice those challenges will be more easily overcome.

I wouldn’t call it bullying, it is more of pushing them to become a better version of themselves. Sometimes learning the hard way is the best way to learn and for those who lose interest because of the criticism i think it’s their loss, they were not really determined and along the line they could give up if they encounter any little challenge.

This is not a subject you can generalize like this. People are not all alike, the situation is also not all alike. Things like this has to be analyzed on a case by case basis.

If one user is treating others badly you can't generalize it to everyone. I have experienced this situation many years ago when I was new to this forum as well. But that's how the internet works, and is not limited to bitcointalk or the user ranks. I still experience it from time to time from trolls on this forum. People have to learn to ignore trolls and bullies that "reside" on the internet...

But on the other hand there are also cases where a language that may appear aggressive (which OP may interpret as bullying) can be understandable (even if not justifiable) for example in the case where a throwaway account (which is a newbie rank) is intentionally spreading misinformation.
We have situations like this during "fights" inside the community, like 2017 over the scaling solution. Back then we had many users spread a lot of FUD across bitcointalk (from lies about SegWit all the way to advertising shitcoins in the "flippening" project to bash bitcoin). I dare say those users deserved to be treated aggressively.

Another case which has been common ever since introduction of the merit system is newbies trying to create a "guide" topic to rank up. The problem with that is they don't yet have a good understanding of the subject they are creating a topic about so the end result is a mess.
Sometimes correcting them and telling them to stop making such topics may appear as "bullying" specially if the language used is not very kind. Maybe this can be a valid criticism for "high rankers" to improve their language in cases like this. After all you catch more flies with honey than vinegar!

Very true, but the truth remains that if this misconception and wrong impression about this whole High Rankers Bully situation, it might actually make some low rankers to lose interest to participate effectively on the  forum for fear of being bullied because they're low rankers, and this could surely affect their efficiency here; Hence the reason this whole misconception shit should be corrected to avoid further ignoranr and naive feedback or retaliation from we the low rankers of the forum.

Because if I'm a High Ranker and I try to correct someone who is obviously wrong, and then they feel bullied by my response  and then retaliates, if I eventually come across such a dude somewhere else and notice an obvious mistake/error from the person, I'd rather thr person wallow in their ignorance, rather than making further attempt to correct them.

There is really no need to make a fuss about it, that how you feel when your seniors are trying to put you in the right position but you will think they are pressuring you too much or over demanding but then you will realize were actually trying to help you when you get older. It’s the same with this forum, low rank members will think the higher ranks are pushing them too hard but it’s not something to worry about they will understand better in future when they grow but those who couldn’t take pressure will think the higher ranks are just been unreasonable.

I don’t think their complaints should bother you too much they are just naive and immature and after some time they will definitely understand what the higher rank members where saying.

As an old fellow member of the Bitcointalk community, I agree with your statement. As far as I'm concerned everyone here is learning and teaching, it's unfortunate that some newbies and low ranking members take constructive comments as personal attacks while I don't think anyone is making or trying to make a personal attack. Saying that the other thing is of little importance, if new member learn what they want to learn (Beginners Guide/ educational posts / Bitcoin educational related posts /Crypto educational post / Bitcointalk rules and regulations and the way ranking works) they will always be selective in questionaries and same way the answer will be.

Bitcointalk, like any other community, has its own policy based on rank, qualifications and experience. Top members have valuable insights to share. However, this hierarchy can inadvertently promote an "us vs. them" mentality and the way we overcome from that mentality we will always be in the zone that we started from 0 too.
Newcomers and lower level members may feel vulnerable while being here without properly evaluating the post where they are interacting. They move into unfamiliar territory, eager to learn, but also challenged.
When being disciplined by a higher-ranking member, it is important to frame it as a guideline rather than a reprimand, As  I can express myself when I started my journey and I can say that The Information I got here and I still can get from here is a gift. This is an opportunity for growth, But sometimes it is not delivered well or it may be misunderstood by some members.

Sometime Top members should and do choose their words carefully remembering that the impact of some response we used to face when we started this space in the meantime i strongly recommend New Friends to understand in positive ways because here no one is trying to discriminate or bully, I strongly believe this community is here for Bitcoin/Crypto. Sometime we have seen in society that instead of saying "You are wrong", we can try "Lets Imagine this alternative which could be better", Such efforts helps New friends to learn in a welcoming way and Acknowledge the effort even if the results need improvement because sometimes acknowledged by top members with suggestion of improvement could build strong relation to gaining knowledge.

Newcomers often lack context so not everyone can understand local navigation, rules, regulations & ways of selection of words. Top Members can fill this gap by kindly explaining their answers.

At some point in time, we all started as newbie here, and obviously, we rank up and gain experienced. The problem is that there are a lot of newbies who doesn't take and constructive criticism. They thought that some ranking members are downplaying them. However, it might be that they are just teaching lessons for newbies and beginners so that they will learn a thing or two.

Another is that we don't want to spoon feed newbies, not that we don't want to teach you or what. But most of the time we will advise you with that little knowledge so that you can expound it later for your advantage, so don't take it negatively. This is a community, and most of the time we should set a example and then discipline those newbies who are going overboard with their comments and agressiveness.

I as a beginner do not feel that in this forum, bullying or whatever it should not happen or maybe never happen, seeing the rules in this forum are so strict and do not see the status of beginners or rank members, or other high ranks, such thoughts should be avoided, we are all here learning with all our desires, it is not impossible that even rank members or high ranks are still learning until now,
Although there are differences between ideas, ideas, knowledge, suggestions, conveyed by rank members or other high ranks, it should be a reference for us, especially me personally, to continue to explore knowledge about bitcoin, altcoins and the like,.

Stop licking better improve yourself, increase knowledge, and learn a lot. The more knowledge about bitcoin the closer it is to the desire to become a high-ranking member.

Nobody chasetizes each other from here, but the truth is that many love to make corrections and some don't like to take corrections, but if you are the type that likes the truth, the. You won't see being corrected as an abuse on your integrity or something like an insult, so we should always put ourselves in the same position of each of the conditions that what if we are the ones in the same place, this forum is as much exciting that we learn from being corrected and we grow to imoact same knowledge on others who are still seeing us as a positive influencer or contributors.

@Apocollapse, without further ado . Everything looks exactly like this. But I don’t know why these people behave this way, and it’s very sad if this behavior is not only here on the forum but also offline.

Friend OP, you must first have self-respect; there is no need for unnecessary words.
It has long been clear to everyone that newcomers want to rise in rank faster, but all such topics only show your personality and goals of creation. Not everyone likes flattery. And respect should not look like sycophancy. There are a lot of proud newcomers on the forum who do not sing the praises of their elders; they have learned a lot thanks to their goals and desires, and not toadying.

Op, this is what I have to tell you, the forum you see here is like every other online platform where you have different people from different part of the world. You may read different meaning to the comments of someone who has no bad intentions towards you and feel insulted that's why you need to prepare your mind and develop a thick skin here if you want to remain here as they will always say

The forum has rules and regulations I believe if the comments of any high rank member(s) is found breaking the rules such person will be punished accordingly but if any newbie is being bullied by a follow member of the forum it is either you take their comments to be too personal otherwise you just need to ignore the comments and scroll pass it. Get yourself busy and increase your knowledge then watch yourself become a high rank member soon but don't get me twisted, even the high rank members face same challenges here but they understand how to handle things differently.

How I have managed to navigate through the forum and remain at peace with myself and others is to assume that everyone will not be like me so I try as much as I can to accommodate different characters, opinion, approach and even temperaments. I rarely pick offense because I already prepared my mind that I will meet different people with different ways of reasoning and handling issues. Anyone who have not come to this realization might be frustrated by some characters exhibited by some people in this forum. The good thing is that here will be more fun when we see those diversities than when everyone is behaving normal. Sincerely, I missed the days of drama of Digaran who was famous for his peculiar way of handling things that rarely align with a lot of people.

Any member who is not willing to be corrected is proud and might not be able to learn. Learners will always make mistakes and correction should be accepted without feeling bad. There is a saying that you always correct who you love. The reason why you are corrected is because people want to grow. So I accept your position that corrections are part of the process of gaining a reputation.


People will always say what they feel about a particular situation. This is a public forum and it also gives everyone including newbies to express how to feel and you can't stop that. If you think their comments are annoying, your only option is to ignore them. As much as they are not breaking any rules in the forum, you cannot silence them.

There is nothing wrong about constructive criticism or corrections but sincerely, there are some comments that are mean and aren't in the category of correction and it will be more than great we call a spade a spade when we come across them. That someone is a newbie doesn't mean they should accept and not speak out against what doesn't rightfully appear to be a correction. Except we're now in the military ground (where whatever a high ranking officer says or does is right), and not a forum.

However, newbies should endeavor to have a teachable attitude to sieve and digest that which is able to grow their knowledge in the forum. Howbeit, correction shouldn't be confined to newbies alone, in as much as high rankers would want to correct newbies they should likewise be open to corrections from newbies too in order to create a balance as no single body is an encyclopedia. Learning isn't designed to come from top to bottom alone.

To correct is one thing, to insult is another. You don't have to humiliate somebody to guide him/her or to teach him/her a lesson. Although it may be true that there is a misconception, it also true that there are high rank members here who prefer to be rude rather than accommodating, who prefer to stuff lessons in offensive remarks rather than provide them plain and simple.

But, yeah, this is the online universe. There's no point being overly emotional here. Anybody can freely speak online regardless of whether their statements could come off as offensive or not. Social media and public forums like this one are probably not a good place for the onion-skinned.

Until now, I got the impression that all "Newbies" who complain about high-ranked members and refer to various gangs are not complete newcomers when we refer to the Bitcointalk forum. These are most likely users who have already been banned for some reason or whose reputation has been tarnished due to a red tag.

Merit and the DT system are quite specific to this forum, so all complaints about that part cannot come from someone completely new here.

I should've added some links, I've encountered them in multiple occasions, hence the reason I was motivated/inspired to create this thread, I'll see if I can get hold of some threads where I've seen stuffs like this and I'll add them to the post for you can see for yourself.

Mind you, I'm not saying all newbies and low rankers are like that, no,  I believe I clearly stated SOME, and I've seen and witnessed these SOME.

I never stated that newbies picked offence unprovoked or for not reason. The major reason I believe most newbies feel that way could be due to low self esteem and/or inferiority complex, when you've got either of both as a newbie in a community as vast as this, even when the High ranker has the purest of intentions to simply correct you, he'll misunderstand their intention and misinterprete every single word they say.

I literally bumped into a thread where a newbie was saying all manner of shits to a high ranker and in his defence, the high ranker was bullying him, and when I went through the conversation, there was absolutely nothing the High ranker said that would've warranted such a reaction.

Cases like the one you mentioned in Op happen very rarely, beginners or those with a low rank are always open to any correction from members with a higher rank than them. This is a place to receive mutual corrections. At certain times there are also low ranking members correcting mistakes made by high ranking members.
Every member who wants to develop and continues to try to broaden their knowledge while on the forum will always be ready for corrections from other members. If you adopt the formula, never look at who is advising you or correcting every mistake you make, but focus on what he says, then you will quickly develop because you are always open and humble and ready to accept everything that can increase your knowledge.

All you've said is totally you, but I've come to understand that (not just in this forum alone) some people have the habit of always believing they're right all the time and even when they make certain mistakes, they don't even realize they've made mistakes and when someone of the same status with them tries to correct them, they term them as "know it all"  and simply ignore their advice, and when someone of higher status does the same thing, they term them as being authoritative or bullies or intimidating.

I've seen such scenarios multiple times, Hence the reason I created this thread, I kinda noticed this when ibwqs still a newbie, and it has been on my mind to create a thread for it.

When my account got registered on this forum and I started posting, I noticed many of my posts were corrected, but I listen and even asked for advice from well report members. Since I know about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, I have always been researching online about bitcoin which is also another what was good about me. So they know I wanted to learn more as I was posting what I researched on which also earned me merits and reputation. It is important to learn about bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and post on boards of interests. But about listening to corrections, it is very important also but it is good to learn and contribute.

We are not living in a utopia.

Let's call a spade a spade. Some so called high-ranking members of the forums are bullies and we know it. We don't need to act like there is none. And even some so called low-ranking members are bullies too but are yet to exhibit it. Bullying can occur at any level, and we must be prepared to deal with it. It is the world we live in and every individual has to grow some thick skin or like some folks would say it, they have to grow some fucking balls.

High ranking members are not gods they are just there because they happen to be here before the low-ranking members. Nothing more. Also low ranking members shouldn't expect that anyone will talk to them nicely just like their mothers would. This is not a cozy family gathering, it’s a diverse community.

My message to everyone, regardless of rank, is to use the "ignore" button if you feel bullied. If the situation affects your mental health, consider taking a break from the forum. Remember, life exists beyond this forum.

Let me put this in a real life senerio:
As a little baby, you make little mistakes, and your mommy and daddy help you understand what you did wrong. If you listen to them, you won't make those mistakes again. But if you don't listen, you might make even bigger mistakes and grow up thinking it's okay!

It's the same here on BitcoinTalk. If the big guys (highranked members) help the little kids (newbies) by pointing out their mistakes, the little kids should listen and learn. Then, when they become big kids themselves, they can help the little kids too. The her rank people are here to help us as newbies to understand. If they don't answer us, we will never get to learn.

As much as I don't subscribe to newbies being overly looked down on and old forum members not having tolerance for every other ranked member of the forum, we must understand our knowledge gap and create an atmosphere of mutual tolerance amongst the different ranks in the forum.

You can't outrightly paint the narrative as though newbies generally pick offense for no reason and easily get angry when they are being corrected. Some old forum members speak and approach most newbies in a demeaning manner and they might not be mature enough to cope with some of those here and might feel a bit bad but that's never to ask that they exit the forum if they can't cope with such heat.

We all at one point or the other were newbies not just concerning the forum but in the crypto space generally, some of the newbies on the forum have been active in the crypto space for a long time but didn't join the forum early enough and when some of them air their view, you tend to see questions like, How come to a newbie has this kind of knowledge? which might go on to discourage them. Even for those who are new both to the forum and the crypto space, it's best to accept their weaknesses and help them grow and gain knowledge the right way and not focus too much on their weaknesses.  

This is one of those topics that almost everyone tends to overanalyze and overcomplicate.

YOU DON'T NEED TO LISTEN TO ANY "HIGH RANKERS" OR WHATEVER. JUST EDUCATE YOURSELF.

If you know a good amount about Bitcoin/crypto, you will very likely rank up because you will be contributing non-spam replies to topics. If you don't know crap about Bitcoin/crypto, it will easily show because you're likely to just end up posting crap or rehash previous replies; hence you not ranking up.

It's that simple!!!

Trust me — most of the high ranks today(that actually earned sMerit, not just those airdropped merits back then) didn't spend their day "studying high rankers" or whatever the fuck that is. They studied BITCOIN.

I don't see a problem with newbies being aggressive or ignoring advice. Every high ranking member of this forum started as a newbie and went through the same stages to get where they are today. Some listened to advice from higher ranking members and quickly moved up the ranks. Others ignored the advice and stayed at the lower ranks. What we need to understand is that this forum is a public space, and no one's criticism can hurt us personally. We have two choices. [¹]listen, make friends, and move up the ranks, or [²]be aggressive, make enemies, and go nowhere. We learn from our mistakes when someone corrects us. If no one corrects us when we're wrong, we might get the wrong idea and never learn.

As one of the low-ranking members of this honourable Bitcointalk community, I've noticed a very disturbing trend. Newbies and other low ranked members are constantly taking offense when a High ranked member tries to correct their mistakes or offer guidance and it's so fucking annoying when I bump into such threads where a newbie or other low ranked members claim to be bullied or constantly picked on. They seem to think that their feedback is a personal attack, rather than a genuine attempt to help them improve.

I wish to make it pretty clear to us, being a high ranker isn't easy. They've worked so hard to earn their status, and they know what it takes to succeed. So Whenever they offer feedback, it's not because they're trying to bully or intimidate us. It's because we want to see others succeed, so I personally view newbies making such claims of being bullied by a High ranker as the greatest aspect of disrespect and this misconceived idea needs to be corrected.

Instead of appreciating the guidance of the High rankers, newbies often get defensive and accusatory. They claim they're being "bullying" or that they're being "too harsh". Newsflash mates, constructive criticism isn't bullying. It's called growth.

If we newbies can't handle a little bit of criticism, then maybe we're not really cut out for this online community thing. The High Rankers are not here to coddle fragile egos or hold hands. They are just here to give their experience and knowledge to us for us to gain from, and use the knowledge to groom ourselves, enhance our skills and strive to be the best.

So, newbies, listen up: if you cannot stand the heat, then get out from the kitchen. And high rankers, keep doing what you're doing because y'all are making a difference, one correction at a time and your efforts are very much acknowledged and appreciated.

Let's all be guided.