Topic: Do you think it is fair to save merits for high-quality, low-ranked members? - page 2. (Read 1198 times)

OP, iI support your attitude. Unfortunately, in recent weeks I don't have enough time to browse forum and give Merits to users who deserves it. Or I just become too lazy. So, I still have plenty of my sMerit to give.
I understand your point, but I think it's some kind of waste of Merit to give it to Legendaries. Ok, I give 2 Merits to Legendary member and he get only 1 sMerit which he can send to low-ranked member. So, I would better to give my 2 Merits directly to low ranked users. But I'm not saying that we shouldn't give Merits to high ranked members. When I see Legendary with high number of Merits, it's like an indicator that he is great poster and it's worth to read what he wrote.

Hello as a low-ranked member I believe this merit system is good and your idea of saving is not bad as long you really give it to people who deserve it. I believe you will be often seeing yourself giving merit to older people because they are more used and better on finding and posting interesting content. However, I really would like a system where anyone can highlight a good post (tho I fear the spamming), so it's easier for veterans to see it and give it more merit chances, I often see really fruitful topics without any merit and I wonder if it's not because enough veterans has seen it.

To be honest, there are plenty of members dishing out merit regardless of rank, so if you want to focus on lower ranked members then that's great. There are a tonne of junior members like me that are finding it hard to get off the ground regardless of how active I am on here and I think its probably just a case of many good posts and the relative rarity of merit.

I, unsurprisingly, think this is a great idea. The higher ranked members have a lot of excess merit and do not need more. Can someone tell me where the merit came from originally and what the criteria was for it's original distribution? Was it a reward for higher ranked members at the outset? I've been here since December last year and granted am not on here all the time, didn't hear about how to receive merits when they were introduced.

I think encouraging newer members is a good policy to decide on gifting your merit.

Generally I tend to use my sMerit to reward people without legendary rank even if they deserve it, they do not need it.
Very often they are not interested in merit and therefore I prefer to use it for helping people with a minor rank.

i have found my criteria for meriting posts changes when i am almost out of smerits. and it does tend to lean towards giving to lower ranks at that time. which is unfair on my part.

legendaries obviously dont need smerits for ranking up, but i figure (generally) legendaries will give out merit with greater "accuracy" than lower ranks simply because they know more about the subject matter and what benefits the forum than lower ranks. so they definitely need merits sent to them.

OTOH for lower ranks it can be discouraging for them to have good posts skipped, where legendaries probably wont care as much (at least i dont). i like to encourage them.

when i only have one or two smerits left i find myself withholding smerits on the off chance i might find a better post later, and thats kinda a pain. i wound up with a bookmark folder named "merit these posts" for when i have smerits to send lol. when i go through that folder, lower ranks do get preference all else being equal.

is that unfair toward legendaries on my part. well, yes.  on average, legendary posts do tend to be better quality and thus deserve merit like any other quality. but since smerits are intended to reward good posting habits, and (generally) legendaries already have that, the merit goes toward the lower ranks to "point the way" so to speak.

Now it's turning into a business. I've seen posts about sMerit buying/selling more than once. After all, there are high-quality posts that are not awarded smerit, because it is easier to sell than to put just like that.

It can be theorized that its better to save up sMerit for lower rank users that "need" it but that's really only one side to it. Its all based on the person who owns the sMerit and what they deem as a good post. As I've read many people on this topic agree that merit should be awarded to posts regardless of rank but by the value of the post. The two values I've noticed are posts that are useful, or posts that give a laugh. Both contain values which are based by the opinion of the owner of the sMerit. I personally think it is fair but it can be hard to be noticed. I say that but I'm sure if a user consistently posts quality then they will get atleast some merit from someone. If that someone has any to send. I usually find myself wanting to send a merit for a post but then realize "I only have one to send. Maybe I should save it for another post."

It's this one - there are loads of people exchanging ideas about bounties, and they must gain enjoyment from the self-flagellation of not receiving those bounties.

I gave mine to those who had helped me (or made me laugh) in the past. I gave one away to someone who has passed soooooo while that person didn't need it he absolutely deserved it.
"Fair" is a tricky and practically pointless word when asking what someone should do with their own belongings, votes, merit or whatever else.

I'm personally fine knowing I will not likely ever make legendary status (Hero is enough pressure as it is ;-).
Not sure how the merit system will shake out but it IS an improvement, I hope it will discourage the multiple accounts trying to "level up" to make money by spamming here.

Whatever happened to having a forum where people with the same interest exchange ideas...for enjoyment?

i think is fair and so nobly! but if and only if these post really deserve a merits! we dont want merits for shitty or spammy posts so we want keep the form cleam from those kind of people so we dont should to encourage them by giving them a merits but we must to help people who deserve help 

I would have liked to have been flush with Smerit. It had been awhile since hanging out here. I had 20 and gave them away quickly still wishing to give about 60 more out.
I think it's fair for people to give them as they see fit. Shooooot if someone makes me laugh that's a +merit -)

They don't drop, it is just that sometimes they don't appear on the post count. Even if they are not deleted nor classified as spam.

I have taken a look at your posts. I expected the typical one-liners, which I found, but from time to time there is a decent one. Have one merit for that one.

I have also observed that Bitcointalk does not count all posts, I believe it is based on posts on the same thread or those that have little time between them. I will ask for an explanation in Meta, since I am an older member and yet still don't know it.

Believe me, I am not.

Posts do not "drop off over time". Your posts were deleted for being spammy, irrelevant, or off-topic, and you are likely to be banned if you continue making such posts.

That none of your 50 32 posts were merited is a further clue that your posts are not contributing to the forum.

17800 merits every 30 days ought to be plenty.

If the issue is that shitposters keep complaining that they can't get merit, then yes, it indeed seems that not enough is being done about it.

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My reason is simple enough. Take my generosity and pay it forward.

It’s not really you, now the moderators here are really working hard and they mostly deleting most threads on this forum and because of that our posts just keep on dwindling from the forum. But I can testify that due to the merit system, not a lot of posts are being made and am talking about spamy posts.

You are very generous and I do see your point.  However, I see merits as a valuable and scarce commodity and if all else is equal (which it usually isn't), I'd give my smerits to lower-ranked members over Legendaries.  Hero members still need them, but Legendaries can't rank up any more than they have.  The problem has always been finding those low-ranked members who make decent posts.  Often I find myself doing what you and Vod do, which is giving out merits without regard to rank or need.  It so happens that I find posts made by older members a lot more interesting.

Foxpup, for some reason, has given me quite a bit of merit and though I don't "need" it, it is always nice to have some smerit to give out. 

Anyway, since smerits are very limited--especially if you're in the lower ranks--it's understandabe that you'd want to be selective about who you give it out to.  I think that's perfectly acceptable.

Whatever bitcointalk is trying to achieve with merit-based ranking is failing.

1. The number of posts drops off over time. After submitting roughly 50 posts, bitcointalk is counting 32 of them. I do not make spammy or irrelevant posts and they are not off-topic. So I spend time contributing more posts which leads to more time on site with 0 merit, which on the surface will make it look like a spammer account.

2. Bitcointalk is not giving members enough merit to give to others (see the rest of the thread on this topic.)

3. Bitcointalk doesn't seem to care and hasn't done anything to address the issue.

So if I buy a chair that has been made by an apprentice carpenter, and it collapses when I sit on it, should I pay the same price as a chair from a master carpenter that will last for 200 years?