Topic: I'm reluctant to award merit in threads started by me. (Read 363 times)

I am not a good poster at all but since you are asking about suggestions and thoughts then I think its free to butt in 

Honestly, it seems to be a good idea for me.
I can observe the frustrations of smerit distributors here in the forum. Seeking for a needle in a haystack is very much hard work and sometimes some people posting in your threads are just doing it on purpose.
I would agree if you would try other sections for a while and where you would probably prefer.
Try to relax for some time too. Too much work might take you farther from the forum if you wont take it easy

The boards I prefer are serious discussion, speculation, and the tech ones. I visit Meta partly for the entertainment, and partly to see what is going on in the ranking concepts. I keep trying to find interesting stuff in the frog pond, and the Beginners boards, but it is quite difficult. I'm not interested in alts apart from a couple of them - currently Steemit, and possibly Wax.

I'm probably going to back away for a while, and just look at my preferred boards. I find that I'm getting a bit abrasive when I see necro-bumps, and a load of short, trivial posts by new accounts. I'm starting to believe that they are being created to churn merits, and they are becoming the bindweed of the forum in my opinion.

I always find you here in the meta section and sometimes in btc discussion. Try to go to other sections. I'll bet you'd find users who deserves merits

I don't think it is an instinctive reaction. I know that I have started to read threads, and become fed up with all the tedious and repetitive low value posts that follow the first couple of replies. I often leave the thread at this point. I agree that this is unfair to the quality posters who arrive later in the thread. The solution is moderation and deletion of the worthless ( in my opinion ) posts, but this may be counter to the policy of the forum.

I think you should give merits in your own threads. If it is a quality post and someone took the time to write it, if it is informative, well written and maybe offers you a solution with a problem you are having then you should do it.
If the post helped you make a decision you didn't know how to make before or you were unsure its worth to merit that i think.
I have read posts were users really make a great effort in their comments and their posts are even better or atleast on par with the OP but they dont get merits for them because people instinctively tend to give their merits to the OP. Of course it is not a rule but you have to agree that is what many people will do.

I gave you a merit for raising this point, and this is another personal issue that I have. There are a lot of good posts on the boards, but I seem to be a bit selective about topics and posting styles that I merit. I would find it difficult to deviate from this, and I feel that there is sufficient diversity amongst the members for those post that I miss to receive merits from others.

Many thanks for all the replies, and they raised some interesting points. I think I'll take the advice, and I've allocated three merits to this thread. I'm only reserving three because it's coffee time, and I'll look in some other boards for posts to merit. The difficulty is going to be choosing three posts, because there are several replies that are helprful and deserving, but I don't have an unlimited supply of merit. so I'll try to spread it over a few of the boards.

@The Pharmacist. You have been here for some time, and you have obviously been a valuable contributor because you have become a respected Legendary. I think it is a shame that you feel reluctant to post in many threads. I am a (minor) Bitcoin investor, and this means I have not had wide experience in the use of Bitcoin. Obviously I have a good basic understand of Bitcoin, and the running of a node, but my knowledge is far short of members like Danny Hamilton and Shorena, both of whom have helpful to me in the past ( as have many other members), and I don't feel that I am able to evaluate technical posts either. I am sure you have a good appreciation of the economy, and I think your opinions would be valuable in posts about Bitcoin in commence and politics at the very least.

Who should receive merit?
I am probably unusual in that I don't think that rank should be a consideration in awrding merit. I have given merit to brand new mermbers to encourage them to contribute to the boards, but this is unusual for me. I suspect that Theymos realised that it would be easier for established members to make meritorious posts, and this is why the requirements are larger as one moves up through the ranks. I think we should respect his perception. I'm also of the belief that one shouldn't be over generous with merits - one or two points is sufficient for a single award for a post. Were this to be an imposed limit, I think it would reduce merit abuse by sig promoters and multi-account holders. It may be that the ability to award 50 points at a time is a useful method of policing the merit system, so I am ambivalent about the restriction at the moment.

If you see someone worth of giving merits to, then, why not, you started the thread anyway. Look for something that really made you "Yeah, that's pretty cool!", "You have a point there dude" or anything that made you agree or think. Honestly, why keep your lots of merits when there are someone who need really need them. There will be someone who will award you a merit so, share....

You already proven that you are  a quality poster and an established member already. And it is all upto you if you will merit yourself, but if ypu don't want to do that then give it to those who needs it more, holding it will do nothing. Maybe hold a competition or make a thread in which you will give merit to the other quality posters that you like. But again, it is all up to you. A quality post is a quality post that should be merit.

Since you're asking for a specific yes-or-no answer here, and probably not just "well it's up to you", I say yes.  Absolutely.  And I profess I don't understand your reluctance to not award merits to quality posts in threads you've started.  I also agree with Welsh that a good post is a good one regardless of what thread its in, and I subscribe to the notion that one should give merits to posts that one likes. 

I don't start too many threads around here, mainly because my knowledge of the technical aspect of bitcoin is so weak, and I wouldn't even know how to even formulate an intelligent question half the time--but I'd have absolutely no qualms about giving merit to a person if they made a post I thought was funny, witty, or otherwise piqued my interest if it was in my thread. 

Bonus points if the member who made the post was under the rank of Sr. Member.  Gotta give merits to the noobs so they can rank up.  They've got the hardest part of the mountain to climb by far.

Yes, for the simple reason that posts in topics you start would constitute a large portion of the posts you read. If the post is merit-worthy, there is no reason to unfairly judge the users who respond to your topic.

Just my opinion, you should do what you feel most comfortable. You started your threads/ topics to help others with your deeply knowledge to give them valuable tips; your sMerits to give them motivations to keep contributing; your strict rules/ words to warn them stay away from creating shitty posts and illegal merit exchanges.
Additionally, good threads are definitely good threads; merit-deserved threads are certainly merit-deserved ones regardless of wherever they published.
I think those things are enough, you should take it easy, don't put so much pressure on your shoulders due to your genorosity.

You are fairly active and respected too. I will like to see you as a Merit source (if you are not).
I think you have presence in various board of forums (Meta, Serious Discussion, Beginners & helps etc..) and still you are not finding enough good post to merit, then this is a serious question on post quality in forum.
Starting your thread and awarding Merits according to your taste is also a good choice (for ex. we  have "sMerits for art").

If I am politically correct...
What would make you stupid is if you skip meriting a meritorious post that isn't in your thread only to award a crap post in yours. That aside, you are doing ok.

Of course, one can only give what one has in one.

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That aside, I have noticed that the merits no longer flow like before. Could it be that the zeal in meriting posts is gradually weaning?

Absolutely. I for example specifically reward quality posts in my FAQ threads. Not only good answers, but even good questions.
After all, I'm better able to determine the quality of a post in a topic I myself am interested in.

There's a few good answer in your thread in specualtion section.

You can award it if they really deserve them. You are even more probably stupid if you award a not meritorous ideas/opinions with accidentally adding 1 to 0 in merit points and send it anyway.

ninja edit: while listening to politacal comments.

I think you just need to award Smerit as & when you see a quality post or one that makes you smile. You don’t need to over think it, there’s no science to what a Merit Source most throw Smerit at. I’m a Merit Source myself & I just hand them out when I see a good post.

I’ve noticed you’re very OCD about the whole Merit thing OP, you make lots of threads re: it. Just relax & enjoy the forum, you’re doing a good job. You don’t need to get so intense about it.

I'm not looking for merits, but I am aware that by awarding merits, I may be attracting more posters to the thread.

I've done this a few times. Sometimes, someone makes an inside joke or just something that makes me laugh and is also truth. I guess I never really thought about this, but I for one see nothing wrong with it. It's not like you are looking for merits, quite the opposite, right?

A quality post is a quality post and should be rewarded whether the thread is started by you or not. Continue to reward users who are making an effort. Maybe, it just so happens that your thread subjects encourage well thought out responses.

In my opinion as long as there's been a considerable amount of effort put into it they don't even have to be right about what they are saying and you also don't need to agree with what they are posting. Someone who rewards someone on the opposite end of the debate/discussion for their effort in explaining or what ever shows good character in my opinion.

I'm probably stupid in taking this somewhat traditional attitude, and I have awarded merits in my threads in the past. I'm cruising through some threads looking to award merits, but I'm having trouble finding posts that I like. Maybe I'm a bit distracted because I'm listening to political comments while I do it.

So what do you guys think, should I include my own threads in my merit awarding hunts?