I don't like the voting options. Too much involved in your idea for a Yes/No, and the No doesn't necessarily imply merit ruins lives.
Well I think it simply boils down to:
Do you agree with hidden boards as a reward for high merited users and those that make a lot of reports?
Reporting-based board: What would be discussed in these hidden boards? And if the information is useful to the ones that are being fought against, what stops them from ranking themselves up by reporting their own alts/posts to make it into these boards?
It would just be like an extension of Meta, but only accessible to those who meet the reported post requirements. This board isn't as important as the 'merit' one but I still think it would be helpful. It certainly wouldn't be impossible for nefarious users to gain access to it but it's not like things in there will be super top secret, but I think the likelihood of people doing so will be low. Doubt lower ranked members or the ones that are being investigated are going to go gung-ho reporting posts just to have a look in there in the off chance their accounts may be being discussed in there. Also, would be helpful for things like the following which ideally would require a bit of confidentiality so bots can't change their ways once spotted to evade detection:
This, on the other hand, would be a great asset! Bump bots for instance quickly evolve after being discussed and reported through a Meta thread. These discussions should be hidden from most users.
Merit-based board: I could agree with a board like this, although I feel like something under Serious/IT would be better to adjust as opposed to creating another board?
By board I mean sub, but the sub can go in Serious Discussion, just as long as there's a high merit requirement. You only need to be a Junior Member to post in Serious Discussion which many bots are achieving these days as there's no merit requirement for Junior currently.
I sadly feel like people are sort of giving up on the main sections of this forum to opt for special sub-boards. It sounds like everyone is acknowledging the problem but doesn't want to address it on the main sections. Doesn't this essentially take the experts/quality posters and put them into a special sub board that the main stream of legitimate traffic to the forum may not ever see? Seems great for members that have been here for a while, but bad for legitimate new people trying to get on board with Bitcoin, the forum, and seeking information.
The board could be visible to everyone then, you're just not allowed to post in it until you've received the merit. If you want to post there then earn the merit over time which quality posters will have no issue in getting the at all. We really don't have to worry about other boards not being contributed to as long as there a signature campaigns here. There are still quality users who give great advice with signatures so I'm sure they'll still be happy to oblige in conversation.
If there is a way to make it inaccessible for the users but accessible for the search engine bots and crawlers, it would be a good. I'm unsure if this is possible.
Can you see the Staff or Donator forums here indexed on google?
The fact that it is inaccessible or hidden for the particular users means we can't read it and defeats the purpose of the forum
The purpose of this forum has already been defeated. It was originally to discus about bitcoin but now it's populated with users who want to know whether bounty is better than airdrop or want
relationship advice for their high school crushes and are only here in the first place to earn and cover their '
"daily needs". The vast majority of people who sign up these days probably don't even have any knowledge or interest in bitcoin (nor can many of them even speak English) but they have just been told they can earn here, and my suggestion is about restoring that back to the original purpose and at least giving users who wish to have a decent discussion here without it being plagued with barely literate one liner spammers looking to rank up and earn in the process.
As an alternative, I would really like to be able to set more restrictions as a topic starter (on all boards).
I've suggested this for the new forum software before ie you can limit participation in threads to ranks etc when you self-mod so only Juniors or Members or whatever you set it to can post there. Would be good for polls as well if you don't want legions of lower ranked members swaying the votes and want to limit it to Heroes and above or something.