Topic: Forum Improvement - My Wild Idea/Suggestion. (Read 446 times)

Before you disagree for the second time, do small research on why the merit system was created. As opposed to what you think, the merit system was not created to reward good posters and neither was it created to measure the quality of good posts. It was created to avoid spamming and shitposting by users in order to complete activity count and rank up. I still state that if everyone in the forum decides to make good posts and no spamming, there won't be need for the merit system.


You don't need to disagree here because there's absolutely nothing to disagree with, unless you didn't understand what was written with regards to the context in discuss.

I'm actually laughing and shaking my head as a sign of disapproval while reading that. There's no way that "crazy" idea of yours will be implemented, first off. However, let's say in an unlikely scenario that your idea is approved and implemented, it won't be much of an issue for anyone who is truly active and posting on this forum to be able to earn a single merit in every 120 days. At least, for the sake of keeping their ranks; I can bet that there are members who will go to any length to make sure they don't lose their ranks even if it means trading merit. Again, any implementation of your idea will lead to exodus of members from this forum.

I appreciate every new idea that gets posted here, it shows that OP cares about the forum and wants to improve on its existing status.

But the problem is that this incentivizes collecting of merits to uphold the same rank. Since majority of active users here are having a signature, they would not want to lose their rank and hence the forum would convert from being a place of free discussion to a place where everyone is trying to make themselves look special in order to get that few merits.

We dont want this forum to become like another TikTok/Insta spamyard. We are far beyond them.

Sorry but I disagree with you, if everyone engages in making quality posts, the merit system will always be needed because, quality are of different levels, there are those that will engage in lesser quality posts while there are others that will engage in higher quality posts, while there are those that will engage in both depending on their mode, the merit system will be there to reward posters based on the quality level of their posts.

You are also wrong here, you need merit as well as actively to rank up.
for example, a full member can earn enough merit to become a Senior/hero or even legendary member, but if that user is lacking in  activity, that user will remain a full member until he or she meets the required amount of activity to rank-up,  and if that user stops being active, he or she can gain 5000 merit and remain a full member forever.

I don't mind it being an April's Fool event for next year.

I can imagine Legendaries losing their shit after returning from a short break or vacation.

everyone in the comment section is just making a good point in their opinion.
 Taking in consideration from what @NeuroticFish said


I think the idea would have been a nice one but base on the fact that some people have others things they are doing outside the forum, or a user can seriously be sick and hospitalized for some months, a user might passed away, or decides to further their education, and when all these happens, their achievements in the forum can't just be demoted to a low rank. This is more like a punishment, forgetting the fact that their quality posts was what defined their original rank.

Will it interest you to understand that if everyone in the forum will engage in quality posts at everything, there would be no need for the merit system. I understand that the merit system was introduced due to extreme spamming and shitposting by account farmers in order to rank up.

So, it will not make sense to demote a user because of his/her absence in the forum for a long time thereby negating their previous contributions.  There's already a penalty, which is, if you don't get merits you will no longer grow in the forum, remaining stagnant is the price to pay.

When I first saw the post these exact thoughts came to my mind. Also, a user doesn't post regularly doesn't mean he is not active. Many users came to the forum to read other people's comments on their interesting topics. Earning merits should be optional and gratitude for contribution. The demotion system will force many people to earn merits in an illegal way.

Yep, I completely agree with you. I'm against any kind of de-ranking or account "erosion".

The part of my post you quoted was meant as a tweak to an idea that both DdmrDdmr and I had. The idea is that if you're trying to discourage low-quality posting then it's probably sufficient to just enable/disable a member's signature based on some criteria.

Assuming a good fraction of bad posts are from signature campaigns and that campaign managers won't pay if your signature is disabled, then having your signature temporarily disable itself when you've gone too long without receiving merit is a very simple and effective way to make people think twice before posting.

Like you said, there are users that struggle to get merit for reasons that may not be fair (although franky1 seems to be doing okay for himself [1]) and like ETFbitcoin said, there are boards with low merit circulation that put some users at a disadvantage, but I think those two things can be (mostly) worked around by setting the criteria to be forgiving enough to accommodate nearly all quality posters.

[1] https://ninjastic.space/user/franky1?merits

I also believe the intentions of the OP are quite good and positive for the forum. but the application of new rules like this will certainly get the disapproval of many members.
although the Merit score won't change when we don't get any merit in 120 days and experience a drop in rank. it will still hit the efforts of every member who has managed to move up the rankings.
maybe getting 1 more merit will return it to its highest rank (based on the merit score already earned), but I'm afraid this will turn into business for merit trading. or people who send merit from account 1 to their alt account.

We have members on this forum who are more popular than others, and we have some that people don't like and receive less merits because of that and not because of the quality of their contributions. Someone like franky1 immediately pops to mind. I don't know how often he gets merited but I am sure some people have him on ignore, he is banned from posting in certain sub-forums, and some users might even hate his guts. Despite his dislike of certain Bitcoin features, I don't think he should lose his rank because people don't want to merit him due to the way he is.

Note, this isn't about me. I earn a reasonable number of merit weekly and that doesn't bother me.

Op,
These hasn't even been implemented but take a look at a merit begging post from an old newbie like this one   lmao

This is an explanation of how or what the future entails. I just wanna include in that long script of yours,the disadvantages thereof:

* Op,have you realised that you're indirectly energizing account Hack and sales? How? Let me make you understand something deep. A spammer that has the forum as a great pool to mine free BTC will do anything to keep the proceed as long as bitcointalk stays alive.
 If a spammer can create and even go as far as buying accounts just to cheat and earn more in a bounty, not even minding the intricacies --that if they're being caught, they'll loose everything -- so what on Earth makes you think they'll not VIE, with everything they have just to maintain those accounts or thier ranks? Exchanging merits, buying them or even abusing them like I saw a GIVEAWAY MERIT THREAD? Then those that can't keep up will now begin to keep good merit earners as targets to HACK and circulated whatever HODL Smerit they had; not minding if they'll get red tags dude, this is a disaster!

* If this particular rule is implemented, then other rules will be broken.
That's clear with the above link to a post that an old newbie woke from a long sleep just to BEG and yet another RULE is broken. Just imagine having tons of post from accounts like that? It'll only make the forum filled with shitty-head posters, spamming the WO thread etc.

* You'll even force a whole lot of good posters, that has pulled through a lot,and wouldn't wanna have thier pay reduced or prolly, loose thier slots in campaigns -- most especially the slow MERIT-EARNERS --  to begin spamming just so it cuts. That again is a disaster!!

* Posting in the forum should be willfully and when anyone has gotten enough facts to discuss and/ enough points to proof. Not when everyone is struggling to get merit to keep up . These makes the whole thing COMPULSIVE et COMPETITIVE, with or without a campaign which is still against a rule of everyone being LIBERAL.
Who knows if that's a reason why most peeps don't wanna join a sig campaign even if it pays; that they don't wanna be given a POST-QUOTA or something..

*Lastly, good posters or programers that normally post the development or rehabilitations of thier encoding projects/ website's manipulation will slowly back-off. The haven't been regular afterall; as they'll go for months on their projects only to come back and realize that they've been demoted. How will they even post pictures if they were turned NEWBIES?

It sounds smart, but I'm afraid it's gonna outsmart everyone.

Cheers,
Sandra 👩‍🦱

I don't know what to say if this idea is introduced in the forums as a new standard in the rules. I'm struggling to reach Legendary and I admit it's never easy, so this rank drops if within 120 days I'm suddenly inactive and don't get a single merit. I would strongly disagree about the OP's idea, but I think your main intentions are good.

Encouraging users to post something quality is a good thing, but yes it won't be mandatory when they don't have the ability and willingness to do so. So I don't agree with this idea yet.

It's not a bad idea to introduce some kind of negative points for inactivity, but you have to think that some good users are not active all the time in forum.
Imagine having some developer who is posting periodically with update of his project, and he needs to upload images.
Now after period of inactivity he is back to newbie rank and he can't post images again, so you would have to separate good from bad users and that is not easy to do.

I don't think it will create any drastic changes.
Spammers and trolls will still find a way to earn one merit every now and end to continue shitposting.

basically, the idea makes sense, but there are many more flaws.
So, Legendary can be demoted to a newbie, I guess after that their account is deleted if they don't meet the merit/daily criteria.
also, in the event that only 0.5 merits are collected per day, the user can be downgraded, even with a solid number of accumulated credits. Sounds weird.

Your Idea appeared good but in another way it's not.
I will rather suggest that, an account that are not active or long login should be deactivated and logout by Forum moderators and such user's shouldn't be granted an access to the account again.

Other modification of this suggestion already mentioned some times. Few similar discussion in past,
Reducing (removing) airdropped merits for those who didn't earn 1 single merit
[Proposal] Tackling the spam


It's interesting idea, although member who only post at board with low merit circulation is at disadvantage.

As far as I guess, ranks mostly matter for the signature campaign on this forum and the problem is that spammers are spamming the forum for money. But your "solution" can make things worse and let me explain what would I do if I were a spammer

1. People, who don't care about signature campaigns, may not spam this forum and probably don't care much about their rank. We both agree that people in this category aren't a problem. So, this solution doesn't improve anything for them, instead, it may push them to post more than usual to keep their rank.

2. If I am a spammer and my intention is to earn money from signature campaigns and I know that if I don't get 1 merit in 120 days means that I'm fucked, then I'll post as much as possible because higher the posts, higher the chances of getting at least on merit. I think if this is the source of money for spammers and I'm a spammer, then I'll create alternative accounts for more profit and feed, keep my ranks with each other. Even me as a spammer, I'll put an effort at least once in a year and get 1-2 merits on my accounts. Then I'll spam and spam. I know that I can't get merits because of my spam posts but I have five accounts that are five source of profit, so, lets count:
Accounts: A, B, C, D, E. Imagine I have 1-5 sendable merit on each of them and it's the time when if I don't get merits soon, my account rank will decrease, so this is what I would do:
1. Send merit from A account to C
2. Send merit from B account to E
3. Send merit from E account to A
4. Sent merit from C account to D
5. Send merit from D to B.

This lets me to continue spamming for another 120 days and the higher number of alternative accounts will make tracking hard for you because more accounts = more combinations to hide traces.

Yep, that is a much better approach and basically what I suggested a few posts up.

Except, instead of X merit in Y days, I would make it X merit in Y posts. That way, you're not penalized for low activity and you can't spam the forum hoping that some small fraction of your posts will get merit.

While returning from holiday with my beautiful wife, I have an accident on the slippery road. We hit a tree. My wife dies on the spot and I spend months in physical recovery with internal bleeding and serious fractures. I lose the will to live and need months of therapy to return to my old self. I finally find the strength to look at Bitcoin again so I log in to the forum only to see that I am now a Jr. Member. Thanks a lot Fivestar4everMVP! Don't take it personally.

Not necessarily. Good posters won't have problems getting 1 merit per month. Many don't have difficulties earning 1 merit/week/day right now. So they wouldn't be affected anyway. Who would be affected? Shit posters who barely made it into the next rank or those who rely solely on their airdropped merits. Now they have to step up and earn at least 1 merit/month to not lose their forum rank. That will result in an increase in shitposts with a hope that at least one of them gets merited.

If you are a bounty hunter with nothing constructive to say, that won't change if what you are proposing gets implemented. The only thing that will change is that they will start spamming other boards with low-quality/low-effort posts trying to find that 1 merit lifeline.

That's true, yes.