What's everyone's opinion on leaving neutral trust on those that deleted, and posted again in an attempt to gain more merit? My thinking is that negative might be too harsh, but it should probably at least be recorded on their profile that they've looked to exploit certain users gratification in order to get more merit. I don't usually like the idea of using the trust system for merit related issues, but it just doesn't sit right with me that a user has attempted to artificially increase their merit count even if it's a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things.
Indeed, the respectable members deserve to be voted. But the respectable forum members shouldn't give merits to those people who are giving votes to them (I'm not accusing everyone). They should at least check the activity of the users before giving him merits.
I like to give most users the benefit of the doubt, so I expect that this was done in a way of saying thanks, or appreciating the vote. I don't think there was any other motives to it, at least at the start. I still probably am on the side of that other users voting were changing their votes based on the potential merit they could earn, rather than integrity.
But some actions need to be taken in this case. And some depth investigation is also needed to check if anyone else has done the same thing or not.
Good work on figuring that out, I suspected that there were users that were going to try this, but didn't have time to check myself. This just confirms our suspicions.
These abusers can do anything to take benefits from the forum. But the respectable members should show more responsibilities in this situation.
Some have posted here since that they're going to refrain from rewarding merit based on users voting for them, although it's likely too late for the integrity of the votes, they are definitely standing up, and acknowledging that this could have been an issue. Again, the OP could potentially look at the voters, and exclude any votes they believe were artificially voted for due to looking to gain merit, I believe there was a rule that they could use their discretion for who can, and can't vote.
Although, I'm definitely not ridiculing them for rewarding merit, it's not something I would have seen as merit worthy, but I can understand from a different point of view that they want to show their appreciation, and if we take a look at the grand scheme of things the odd merit isn't a problem. The problem was, that other users voting saw this as an opportunity that they could abuse it, which not only artifically increased the votes for certain users, but it also could have potentially reduced the votes for other users in the running if that user was going to vote anyway.
For me, it was quite obvious in several categories that towards the latter end of the event, several voters were adjusting who they voted based on the merit, your little discovery only backed that up further.
Guys, I'm sorry that I could not answer someone in a timely manner ... I'll do it later.
Forgive me for deviating from the topic, but I am leading to the fact that I will be counting votes from at least March 10th.
Your family, yourself, and your situation definitely takes precedence here. Don't worry about it, and we're all hoping you, and your family remain safe.