Topic: I doubt it - But is it too bad to ask you to review some of my posts? (Read 594 times)

Somehow some people have misunderstood my point for this thread, but that doesn't matter because we all have the freedom to have different opinion. OK I got some of what I wanted, sure it will be useful for other users who have quality posts. But again I don't feel to begging ^{[might be different if someone else does]} because basically I'm just asking one of you or few to be willing to review my post. If you deserve some then I'm grateful that I have some extra sMerit to distribute among other users' quality posts.

My only goal in this thread is to have sMerit with which I can merited other users for their quality posts. If that's wrong, then forgive me. The thread is locked and I think this is the best decision.

Thank you yahoo62278, skarais, and mikeywith. You may understand what I expect. Also thanks for all the constructive advice.

Some people are overreacting and some are praising what the OP is doing to keep the same passion for quality posts. Merit cannot always be taken as proof that they are high quality users, many people even very often help users to rank up faster even if the quality of the posts is not very good. The biggest impact is that they will experience a lack of merit after getting the first 1000 even though I think that is a normal situation.

OP, rather than embarrassing yourself this way, I think you should be wise enough before complaining about merit. I think you are one good user, but you just need to be more patient to find better ways to get more merit after Legendary. Close your topic and see the truth, you have to put in more effort if you want to earn more merits even if you want to contribute to the system more often.

NOW you read it wrong, I was just using a few people of your campaign as examples, you are a good poster regardless of what you wear today, just that the CM signature was like a garment and draws more attention to anyone wears it, I hope they straighten things out and return in good faith.



Bestchange was the closest thing to CM until they started allowing Bitcoin discussion spammers in, another one was Stake, which aimed to create a great reputation but the payment was insufficient to attract good posters.

Whirlwind and Sinbad could be the future CM; they have some outstanding posters and the best paid campaign right now, and if they run for a few years, one of them could occupy the CM seat.

Upon reading his post again, I have to say that I think you are right and this is indeed more about merit begging than anything else. I mean, why would member with 1000+ merits even report his posts to a merit source as he said that he is still doing that? These things should be imho reserved to those who lack merit to reach the higher rank and not just for the sake of getting more merit for whatever reason.  

With that being said, I did check his merit history and it looks like ~30% of his merit received came form the same member so no wonder when that source of merit stopped, he was left with very few merits received in the last few months.  


Given the reputation that CM built over the years, I am not surprised that people perceived members with their sig differently to the point that their posts had more "weight" and to be considered as a sort of forum elite. It will take a long time to see another campaign reach that level.

I don't spam any boards, not even Gambling, where I write a maximum of 10 posts a week, and I think that most of those posts are constructive - and also don't compare the campaign in which I participate with those that encourage spam - I only need to write 20 posts a week, and earning was never my first priority. There are shitposters in all parts of the forum, have you maybe looked at the Bitcoin discussion board or Economics boards?

Apparently, everyone on the forum thought the CM member was Albert Einstein until it was one and members starting seeing you with the same Avatar and signature same as people who are spamming the gambling board. haha



Same here, I wouldn't accept any deal that limited my posting on the gambling board because that's the most fascinating board as a sports fan. Although the gambling board appears to be a merit retirement home, users would only appreciate your postings with words. because nearly every active member on that board has little or no smerit to share. 

I wouldn't accept any deal in which the campaign manager decides where I can post.

Maybe it's all between my ears. I haven't checked the actual numbers.

That was just advice, although topics like this are 99% for the Reputation board, regardless of how someone interprets them. In the end, the OP got what he was looking for, although such a distribution of merits is completely wrong in my opinion, especially for the reason that it is seen by many beginners who climb the ladder with great difficulty, and someone gets 50+ merits for a literal "begging post".

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Tell me about it, because I have personally convinced myself several times that since there are no more CM campaign, it seems that no one takes me seriously anymore, apparently most people look at the signature and avatar first, and only then at the content of the post.

And maybe even lower if your manager asks you to post a certain amount on the gambling board. 

But anyway, I never feel that the amount of merit you get will decrease after you change your appearance (signature or avatar), unless you don't write anything for more than one month. So far, your merit per post ratio is 0.55 merit per post (excluding merit airdrops), even people will recognize you as a different (special) user even if you post less than before.

You must be kidding me. ;v

I get the feeling any change in appearance leads to a reduction in how much Merit I receive. Each time I changed my avatar or signature, it feels like I receive less Merit. I think my posts look more anonymous (for a while) after each change.

While I do agree that this doesn't really belong to Meta, I woulnd't be so harsh. Call me naive, but I think this is more about his post quality rather than anything else as he is worried that it went down since he doesn't get as much merit as he used to. Iirrc one of the older reputable members had a thread where people could ask for his opinion regarding their post quality so I think OP's goal is exactly that.



It always boggled my mind how can non-merit sources have so much merit to share because 99% of the time I am at 0 and usually spend all of it the very same day I have some.

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@_BlackStar as others told you, its quite normal to receive less merit once you reach Legendary rank as many of us experienced (myself included) the same thing so I woulnd't worry too much about it.

As for me i see nothing bad in you requesting for a post review on your profile since it's by choice and not by force, also the person reviewing your profile may decide to merit you or not base on his satisfaction seen with your profile, same way we have many merit giveaway threads in which members can apply for and if eligible, they can receive merits and this cannot be termed as merit begging, you beg for merit when you directly ask someone to merit you without a course, but when you submit an application for a post review or merit giveaway threads, they may merit or may not base on how they see your profile to thier satisfaction.

Merit sources receive 309 sMerit per month on average.

It’s really a bad choise of caption on the column on my behalf, as it represents SentMerits (not what we know as sMerits, which can’t really be calculated with precision for all profiles due to those with initial sMerit airdrop and/or being Merit Sources at some point). I’ve changed the caption (loading now).

Well, if I were to be asked personally about this question, it's just that there are some here who have high standards when it comes to giving off merits. I have known even before how much you have contributed on this forum aside from having high quality posts so I'm sure you won't suffer 0 merits even in 3 months, that's how a quality member you are here, but as of lately ther have been problems in merit cycles not only about your posts but also some other boards too due to inactivity of some merit sources, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve the merits you received.

Merit earning is like Bitcoin mining, it's a combination of randomness and hard work, you could be trying to solve a block for a year, and then on the first day of the next year, you solve 2 blocks in a row.

I don't follow my earned merit closely but I am sure even after gaining my first 1000 merit, in some weeks/months I had little to no merit, in some other weeks I could have gotten 300 merit, then 40, then maybe nothing for a while, it's pretty normal, you will need to measure the number of merit against the number of posts on a very large timeframe, perfectly would be against infinity, a few months is the minimum IMO.

I still get merited for posts I forgot I ever wrote, had I waited for merit to come to those posts when I posted them I would have been very disappointed, and I am sure this applies to everyone else, you need to stay patient and consistent, eventually on some period of times you will get more merit than you ever thought possible, the pace at which you earn your merit is usually going to be like a staircase, flat for a while followed by a steep slope, so just hang in there and stay consistent with the quality of your posts, merit will come your way.

ou have been misinformed. I have just over 200 merits. I have never had more than 400 in the bank at any time BTW. Dmdr may need to check their page and make sure it's putting out the correct information as it currently is not.

I checked the DdmrDdmr merit dashboard and it reveals you are currently hoarding roughly 1300+ smerits, which is the average of what a merit source receives per/month.






He needed the attention and i think he deserves one + the merits he got. he is a good poster.  

I think this is a subtle way to get merits and you've done that but mainly because you are a good poster and you deserve it, or should I say it's a subtle way to get attention to check the posts and possible merits.

But not everyone can do this I remember new accounts asking this and they get busted, because they directly ask for it, without knowing that begging for merits is prohibited.
 

Most times I think the merits even come more easier when someone gets to legendary rank because most times I see very highly accounts rack in over five thousand plus merits and yet still get accounts like mine who struggle to get this merits despite putting in their best efforts and we all know that our level of assimilation and comprehension can never be the same hence we can't all grow in same Pace.
There are alot I'm yet to know over here and I'm still trying my best to keep to the forum rules and it seems the forum doesn't have any rules but realistically, the forum has a alot of rules and I try not to fail anyone.
I wouldn't mind if I can also get some reputable members review my post quality and help me make improvements on them

Yeah, your absolutely right.
There are some board that are not active that much to attract merits whenever you posted but in technical section which includes; Development & Technical discussion, Bitcoin Technical support, Project Development. I think anyone who is active in this area may not lack merits that much. The altcoin board, B&H may not attracts more attention for one's post to be merited all less maybe they manually apply for review before they could get merited.

I do think that this is the possible reason why he isn't getting merits as before because usually merit sources encourages members to rank up until legendary and after that it's not really matter because legendary is the highest rank we can reach in bitcointalk or atleast until now ( not sure if theymos has plan to introduce ranks above legendary).

About lacking sMerits I just move because I never had lot of sMerits to spend and when I get I spend it sooner but I am not really someone who is giving more attention towards the merits column, I just want to get more information as much as possible with the resources of our community members.

I am not a merit source, I just get merited like everyone else. Maybe more often I suppose, but definitely not a source.

I've always seen that to be never as, begging at all isn't a very tasteful habit.

Somehow yes, it seems times do change.
There were times when we had compliants in the forum of merits circulating mainly about the ranked up users and the answers to that was;

Ranked users have got the know how and technicality about being constructive, precise and on point when addressing issues or creating threads on the forum and it was easy to have there post appreciated as compared to beginners.
We had several chats to show that merit flow between ranked users in contracts to beginners.

Now, we seem to have entered an era where, the beginners are given the opportunity to rank up and be more constructive on there literally piece. I won't say the quality has declined over time as per posting but, the focus have changed to helping beginners for there enthusiasm and this happens to have dropped for ranked users as we become quite selective on how to participate or react in the forum.

Yes you are right. But the issue on the forum is that what one sees as a quality post is a shit to another. So what is quality post in the forum is unknown. And as you said previously, merit should be given to the ranking up members and not the members who have already gotten the the last required merits for the last rank. But those legendary members also needs merits for the last 120 days to qualify for other activities in the forum. Therefore, if there is a way they can get merit like lower rank members, theymos should implement it. I have seen such threads in the forum elsewhere.

Exactly, merit is the symbolic concept of like and love in the forum. And also an indicator that the thread, comment is good. So that means if a post did not receive merits, does that mean the post is a low quality post?

For the last 10 months, or there about, you have helped many users to rank up. Thank you very much for your good deed. I am also on the waiting list. I have also improved on my posts. You can now unlock me🙏

It's not as simple as you may think; what you see as quality or value to one person may be annoying to another; that's why I never bother sending PMs or requesting a merit source to look at a specific post; everyone judges posts differently; the feeling of not being able to merit a good post when you see one feels some kind of way; you are a source, and I doubt you have ever gone out of merit.


There will always be favoritism because we are all human after all, and we all have our favorites on the forum. If this was about the DT system, I would agree that it is highly political, but I haven't seen the merit system that way. I notice that you frequently post on the gambling board. I'm sorry, but we do not currently have a dedicated merit source on that board. I considered applying, but...

Once a person reaches Legendary rank(you have the merit to be that) I will usually merit them less and once you reach that rank merit isn't worth anything, it's just as bragging rights thing at that point IMO.

It's nice to get merits, but unless you're a merit source it isn't your job to feel like you have to merit someone. You can make a spreadsheet and merit people later if you recieve some merit, or you can send a merit source a pm and have them take a look although they will probably get annoyed at multiple PMs.

The only good answer is apply to be a merit source(if you're not 1 already) and see if theymos will approve you.

I sent ya 49 merits to help you out, but now I cannot send you anymore for a month. Good luck.

I have had several of my posts where users paraphrase them and earn merits from it and they will neglect me who made the initial posts. I also have many topics i created where mp posts was attacked and yet forum users end up using the same concepts and ideology from my thread to make points in new discussions and no one even bothers meriting me for such posts. I am beginning to feel the whole merit system is politicised and only those who are within the cabals of this generous merits source benefit from them.

Not sure if I've ever worried about my merit count since I reached Legendary status. The truth is that once you reach this level, you stop caring about the merit system, and members stop pushing you too. Sometimes, I go for weeks without receiving a single merit, and it's not because my posts are of poor quality; rather, it's because the merits on the gambling board are scarce or totally insufficient. I only receive merits when I post on the general board. If you're serious in getting merits, my suggestion to Op is to shy away from low topics on the B & H AND bitcoin board

why are you worried about earning new merits? You have enough for the next rank, you have to be obsessed to look for them and get upset if you didn't get them.

If we are already talking about your post history, don't be surprised that some of your posts are unnoticed, because they are in some irrelevant discussions. you should avoid discussions like
Where can I invest 4k bitcoin
Don't encourage multiple trading!

I'd say the opposite: when I see someone who hasn't got a legendary rank yet I can easier give merits as he needs them and even probably give more merits. And those ones who already ranked as high as possible are not in need. It is not that I won't give a merit for a good post, but there's no additional motivation like to help to rank up. And it is actual for many, it was spoken many times in discussions like that. As I feel and remember me myself earned merits much faster when was going to get a legendary member rank.

So no need to worry, majority starts earning merits slower after legendary, it is normal and doesn't say anything about post quality. It can be worrying only if there will be no merits at all, because even if less often but merits are being given even to legendaries.

An advice is always welcome on the forum and you sharing your opinion here is not a bad thing at all. What the op is feeling now is quite normal among some legendary member ranks in the forum because like what most merit source have already said about given out merits, some merits sources prefer given merits to lower rank member that are striving to rank up so when the  highest rank in the forum is achieved by a member, I feel they are left to earn these merits to actually represent the legendary rank they rep and most times its only takes extra efforts to keep these merits coming but just be sure that the merits will eventually come especially if you have built for yourself a good reputation in various ways of contributing in the forum.

@_BlackStar, first of all, I don't think this is something that has a place in the Meta board, because it's your personal problem, not a forum problem at all.

Furthermore, I have never had the slightest sympathy for such things, because merits should be earned in a "natural" way, not in any other way - whether it is a public invitation to someone to view your posts, or in a way that some members ask others to send their posts for review.

If I were you, I would move this thread somewhere far away and lock it, because I think it does you more harm than good. However, don't take my advice seriously, because I'm not one of those people whose opinion carries some weight on the forum.

Once user earns 1000 merits, some shy away from giving more just because you have earned enough for highest rank on forum. Perhaps that could be the case? By the way, it was surprising to see you asking for a post review.

I was going to post exactly this that you already commented, I thought no one was going to comment on this point

But it is a fact, I think most users go through this same phase when they reach the legendary level.

I can say that I also had/have the same behavior, as I didn't have many merits to give, I often didn't give merits to legendaries in very good posts, just because the user is already a legendary and I had only 1 or 2 merits to give.
Thankfully we have merit sources that fill this gap and can give more merits to legendaries and balance things out a bit.
Some sections of the forum are also extremely hard to earn merits no matter the quality of the content too.

Now it is my turn to face this legendary level plateau.
From 900 merits up to 1000 were my fastest merits that I have earned, I think this also influences a lot the perception that when you reach 1000, the merits diminish.

With time you should get back to normal and get the merits again, but with another frequency that will depend on the boards you post / merit sources / quality of content.

Edit: forgot to mention, I consider this phase as a good chance to further improve the posts and try to add more value to the forum.

Recently I heard a girl complaining to her friends that for the last two months, no boy has called her or asked her out, or collected her phone number. She was worried because she was feeling that she was no longer attractive even when it is clear that she was beautiful. So she asked her friend to review her physical appearance and score how she looks. I think the major problem was that for these months she has not been fortunate to be in an area where men that really like her physique or style are located.

I have also felt the same way in this forum. Sometimes you spend some quality time doing some posts and you expect to get at least one merit from it, but you end up getting nothing. While on some occasions you just get more than you expect. The reason is that members that will like your post have not located them. If members that really need that information you gave  locate them, you will definitely get some merit.

These are my own views, I might be wrong.

You have complained about this before so it must really bother you. Your contribution to fighting scams and spammers do not go unnoticed and you have built a reputation for yourself, do not let the merits become a distraction that you forget the work you have done. Like others, I also believe the reason is because merit sources have limited allocated smerits and are more inclined to spend the merits on users who are trying to rank up not those who have already reached legendary rank. You can make use of LoyceV’s Report unmerited good posts to Merit Source thread.

I just learnt that Bitcoin Discussion is visited much by merit sources so posts in that board may not get as much merits even if they are quality posts. I have never looked at it this way but now it seems Bitcoin Discussion comes right after Gambling and Altcoin Discussion in post quality. There are quality posts in Bitcoin Discussion but they quickly get buried under a mountain of spam.

Lol this — without opening the thread yet, I expected someone with like 900 activity with 10 merits.

Advice to OP: just focus on better quality regardless how good/bad you're doing right now. Far better to be trying to improve yourself harder than keeping on wondering why not much people are giving you points based on your current post quality!

First: I wouldn't call it "income". Merit varies over the months:

In your case, a large share (>40%) of your Merit came from one user who reviewed your posts several times. I assume that was meant to help you rank up since you're not a shitposter, but if it stops, you lose quite a large share of your Merit "income".

I quickly checked your post history: You're posting a lot in Bitcoin Discussion. In general, the post quality is quite low there, and I'm not reading the board very often. If I don't read it, I can't Merit it.

Each merit source has their own opinion about reviewing legendary rank account's post, but I guess most of them will reject it because there's no point for them to check your post history and give you merit (most of the reason is time consuming). Let's assuming they find few of your posts deserved to be merited, but what's the purpose? you have ranked up to the last rank and there's nothing you can achieve.

But don't be sad, if you're really think there are few of your posts really deserved to be merited, you can report to this thread [self-moderated] Report unmerited good posts to Merit Source. AFAIK there's no rank restrictions, so even it's a legendary rank, they might merit it.

Yep, and I probably didn't convey that sentiment in my previous post, but it's quite true.  Your posts might still be of the same quality, but many members with merits to give away (including me, which I did say) do look at someone's merit count when they're deciding whether they're going to give someone merits.

That's just the way it is, and I think it's a good way to use the merit system.  Merits are more than just a thumbs-up or a like; they're the mechanism by which people rank up here, so giving them to someone who already has enough to make Legendary might be considered to be squandering those sMerits.

Note: I'm totally guilty of violating what I just wrote, many times over.  But as a merit source I've usually got plenty of sMerits to hand out.  *And speaking of that, I think I'll now get back to my extensive waiting list of members wanting post reviews*

Edit: Shitsky!!  I didn't realize how low I was running on sMerits, and I just handed out my last one while doing reviews.  If anyone who's still waiting for a review sees this, please be patient as I have to wait until my source allocation gets re-upped.   *eeek!*

What is happening to you is normal and also happened to me and many others. Simply when you are ranking up, many forum mates tend to give you more merits to help you reach the ranks. Once you have the necessary merits to reach legendary, that extra push stops.

Now you have to adapt to the new situation and try to earn merits that way.

You may be right, but supporting each other in the community on quality posts is not going to be wrong behavior and against the rules. There are many users helping other users to get rank, this also happened in my local board section. They help not out of pity, but they help because they know that those who are being helped are users whose posts are of good quality. But something can also happen as you say. But one thing, you will get a much higher amount of merit if you have two things. Firstly you are HQ poster and secondly you are well known among the community.

But the merit system doesn't only apply to those who need a rank, I mean the merit system is always expected to be useful for whoever they are even though their rank is stuck (Legendary). I also sometimes feel that my contributions just ignored, and actually I can say a lot of users also miss my posts which are basically of a quality (sometimes better than some of the other most merit users on my local board). But it's just my feeling, maybe because they think that I'm Legendary.

But I once hoped that this mindset would change soon because the merit had to flow between all ranks even if they were Legendary. They should care enough about contributors instead of just helping other people or some users who are climbing up the rankings. You know, in the past I wish someone/a few people also reviewed my post because I thought a lot of local users of my board just ignored me. Check there.

There are merit black holes which drain out healthy smerits then exchange smerits back and forth to rank up. Let they do their jobs and I don't mind to engage with their jobs but your concern is valid and it has happened many months already. It started to be worse since the day theymos increased monthly smerit allocation.

Nowadays, it's easily to see Members, Full members with very good earned merit stats but if you look at their merit histories, I am sure you will see how they exchanged merits with Bitcointalk Merit Public Ledger.

Needless to say who they are and I hope that campaign managers will pay attention on that. Because their main reasons to do that is to rank up and join campaigns. Unfortunately, by inorganic rank-ups they will not be able to make good quality posts that are harmful and negatively constructive for their campaigns.

What a pity to see they exploited generosity and sympathy of higher ranked members to rank up with not too good quality posts, then use smerit they got for their own merit cycles.

I believe they are able to rank up organically but it takes more time. However, it is what they should do to play fair in this community.

Maybe this is the actual accumulated amount if you never asked for "rank boost" in the first place. Since you have reached the highest rank, things will return to normal mode which is enough to prove how high your visibility has been.

Now I understand the point of theymos suggesting good stuff like you pointed out, he just doesn't want users to be shocked by the reality later on that worry becomes a reason to get discouraged.

I don't fully know what you're worried about because actually you no longer need merit to rank up. But maybe, you expect some people to appreciate your post which I don't think is bad either. You've made good contributions as a cheater hunter as well as a spam busters, and you should have no trouble getting some merit with of that activity. But you definitely know that the quality of posts is very subjective between one user and another, so this can sometimes affect the amount of merit you can earning in a certain time period.

Don't worry about the amount of merit your earn, it only gets better the more patterned and balanced your contributions are. Sometimes it's hard to explain why one and two great posts don't yield any merit, it's just a matter of liking or disliking someone about the quality of your post. I am not merit source, but I can help you some merit.

Advice: If you want to contribute more to the merit system, I think you should also apply as a merit source.

Based on how you post you are good enough to get merits, but if you're asking if it's too much I think not at all Theymos add the word there is a parameter he sets in, if he means that no begging of merits he will just post
.
But You should be confident enough about your post's history that those who will grant your request will not waste their time.

There is a thin line between requesting and begging, so you should be imaginative about on how you do it  

If I'm not mistaken (I haven't checked BPIP), I've given you a number of merits over the past couple of years.  If you didn't already have enough merits to reach Legendary rank, I'd be happy to do a post history review for you--although there's a long waiting list and I'm still short on sMerits.  I can only speak for myself, but I try to reserve my merit-giving for those members who need them in order to rank up.  Not everyone agrees with that style, but perhaps some do, which would explain why you haven't been receiving as many as you usually do.

And I also have to add: since you do indeed have enough merits to get to the last rank, why fret about it?  We've all got different perspectives on the merit system, but I'd suggest not using it as a yardstick for your value to the forum.  I haven't been getting nearly the number of merits I used to get, but that's A-OK with me, as I don't need them and it's not a competition for me.

Also, if you're a high-ranking member such as yourself you probably don't want to be starting up threads like this.  It just doesn't feel right IMO.

try asking The Sceptical Chymist, I remember seeing a thread of his several weeks ago where he reviews a member's post history, perhaps he can give you some advice or pointers as to why you're not getting much merit after reaching the 1k merits mark.

I looked for the thread but it was locked and had "paused" on the title.
[Paused] Rules for my post history review offer *updated*

You write well, though my accessing your post might not be the same as others, everyone have their own ways of evaluating your post.
The only thing I noticed was just that you feels more relaxed after achieving 1000 merits which makes you Legendary rank and having this mind you have not to stress yourself putting efforts to earn merits like other.
 
But truth be told, I have seen few users that have backslided after getting the required merits for the higher rank they wishes.
Besides, your pressure can't be quantified with those with lower ranks who are fighting every day to day making sure to achieved their desires of either becoming Full member, or Sr members and I noticed this are the people putting more fire 🔥 to get Hero and Legendary rank.

In conclusion, there's nothing wrong with your post, rather you got relaxed after getting the required merits for Legendary. So to keep earning merits you need to put more fire and action on your posts. Although lower ranks post with desperacy for them to earn merits.

Seems like the title of the thread pretty much represents how I'm feeling right now, but let me ask if that's even possible?

I have somehow lost a lot of merit income since I made my first 1000 merit. I don't know if the quality of my posts is really bad or most people don't like my post style. In fact, I just realized that I only have earn 28 merit in the last 120 days or 36 merit in 150 days. Of course it's wonder when I actually post something that seems a bit less garbage/ spamming ^{[in my opinion]} than many of today's gambling posters.

Of course I recognize that there are several thread that might be useful when I feel my submission is worth reporting to the merit sources for review, but I'm really having a hard time deciding which one is worthy of your acceptance. This made me decide to create this one thread, but not for the purpose of begging you. But to be honest sometimes I have to skip a lot of posts when I don't have any sMerit to give to others.

So let me ask, was it really too much when I asked some of you to review my post and drop some merit there if you find something worthy? I hope this isn't a excessively attempt to do instead of sending you an unsolicited PM.

Theymos said: