Topic: Merit & new rank requirements - page 253. (Read 167726 times)

Me too. 4 more activities before being Member.

There is a big chance that even if you post only quality content you will be left with no merits at all.

First, people don't know what that is and how to use it. Second, nobody likes to give merits because it fills like you are losing them.

There will be a lot of abuse for sure. We will see merits sent to low-quality friends post and accounts providing upvotes for money or in exchange.

I see there is a discussion to add bad merits to downvote spam. I am afraid that people will use it as a weapon to downvote posts they do not agree with or just because they don't like the author.

Guys, any chance that current period will be counted as previously (without merits yet)?
2 activity till Senior member  

There is a big chance that even if you post only quality content you will be left with no merits at all.

First, people don't know what that is and how to use it. Second, nobody likes to give merits because it fills like you are losing them.

There will be a lot of abuse for sure. We will see merits sent to low-quality friends post and accounts providing upvotes for money or in exchange.

I see there is a discussion to add bad merits to downvote spam. I am afraid that people will use it as a weapon to downvote posts they do not agree with or just because they don't like the author.

I get what you're saying but that's the problem 'merits should be awarded for posts with accurate, helpful information'. If you implement a system then sure, you think of a way it should be used. And then there is the way it is used.
To answer your question: Yes, there are THAT many people in sig campaigns and there is a lot of money involved. This can't be argued away and as long as it is like this, you need to take this into account.

Don't hate on me if I quote mayself from a couple of pages before:

Please, have a look and decide for yourself. And as I said, I'm not jealous, this member did everything right. But it shows how the merit system is used in contrast to how it should be used.

this is my take as well. merits should be awarded for posts with accurate, helpful information or clarifying a point of view in a concise way, not for some "old boys club" or "you merited me, so +merit for you" thing. whether or not you agree with that position. i have no problem with meriting a post i dont agree with as long as that post contributes to the thread in a meaningful way.

this whole obsessiveness about rank seems blown out of proportion anyway. are there THAT many people in sig campaigns where rank makes a difference? i mean the only advantage to rank is sig campaigns anyway (aside from the recent "serious discussions" and "ivory tower" forums which are a welcome addition btw). i honestly dont know how many folks have sigs as i have sigs turned off so i never see them. the only sig ive ever had was a plug for cgminer back when btc was mined on gpus.

personally ive never paid attention to forum ranks. now am i proud of my legendary status? sure, ive been here since 2011 and ive tried to help whenever i can. but i post when i feel like it what i feel like it. its never for post count or to level up.

The best example is this post https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/merit-is-the-best-thing-that-happened-to-new-users-2828014 where many gave merit points. But ask yourself, is this a valuable post? It took time to make it, sure, but what makes it valuable. It purely reflects an opinion. It doesn't discriminate or list pros and cons, there is no contrast. It tells the supporters of this new system what they want to hear and of course, they merited it, ridiculously high if I might add.
There are hundreds of posts in this forum that have more value than this post, I wonder if all of them get 61+ merit.

this whole obsessiveness about rank seems blown out of proportion anyway. are there THAT many people in sig campaigns where rank makes a difference? i mean the only advantage to rank is sig campaigns anyway (aside from the recent "serious discussions" and "ivory tower" forums which are a welcome addition btw). i honestly dont know how many folks have sigs as i have sigs turned off so i never see them. the only sig ive ever had was a plug for cgminer back when btc was mined on gpus.

There is a big chance that even if you post only quality content you will be left with no merits at all.

First, people don't know what that is and how to use it. Second, nobody likes to give merits because it fills like you are losing them.

There will be a lot of abuse for sure. We will see merits sent to low-quality friends post and accounts providing upvotes for money or in exchange.

I see there is a discussion to add bad merits to downvote spam. I am afraid that people will use it as a weapon to downvote posts they do not agree with or just because they don't like the author.

That is not entirely true, TMAN for example has given a lot of merit to users who openly disagreed with the change or criticized certain aspects. Others have been doing similar things, some more, some less.
I also have given a few merits to people being sceptic, as long as they had a well explained position or provided some alternative they believe to be more suited.
It's not about opinion not about agreeing with someone or disagreeing with them, it's about how you voice that opinion.
People who outright cry and shout "No, no, no" without giving reasons or alternatives don't get merit. Posts like that are neither constructive, nor "high quality".
If you make a well written post, explaining your position and opinion, bring something to the conversation, or just sum everything up really well, you will get merit, regardless of your opinion and stance.

Second, nobody likes to give merits because it fills like you are losing them.

Yes I got slap too as I could have 1000 merits but yeah it is as it is.

Well, I'm no farmer but my face is still stinging and if I look closely enough, I see the traces of the hand as a slightly reddish tint on my cheek, Sr. Member was almost in reach 

And I highly doubt that this was the sole purpose. But I'm also a realist, moping about things you can't change is pointless, so I adapt.

Merit is a big slap in the face for account farmers. I can imagine how disapointed are they now, imo that's the only reason why it's been implemented.

Same here man. I feel stagnated already as I'll have to wait to receive merit points 

I have marked bold the crucial part of your post. That's actually the problem. To rank up (right or wrong most people want to rank up, be it because they want to run signature campaigns, be it for simple reasons of prestige) people WILL change the way they are posting, but the move may not be in the desired direction. I will make an example to make this case clear.
I don't know if you are familiar with the DeepOnion project and how it unfolded. As soon as their "airdrop" (in fact a signature campaign) had become economically valuable, many people wanted to join it. But in the community there were also a lot of critical voices, who were raising doubts and critics. They all got banned from the airdrop and their critical posts were deleted from the thread. Which has been the consequence? The consequence has been that this "system of reward and punishment" has selected a community made only by people fanatically in favor of the status quo. I am not judging the quality of that project here, I'm just exposing a pattern of human behavior.
Of course you cannot compare the new rules of BCT with that totalitarian management of DeepOnion's thread, but both has something in common: they end up rewarding those who praise the system and the status quo and punish those who raise a critical voice.
And you can already see the first signs of such a tendence here in these threads about the new merit system. Juniors who are posting here to praise the system get plenty of merits, critical voices don't.
Which do you think will be the consequences long term?
DeepOnion's thread has rapidly become unreadable, consisting in a mere chorus of enthusiastic hyping statements.
What will happen to Bitcointalk?
Shitposting will be reduced - and this is GOOD. But variety of opinions will as well shrink, because of natural selection. You'll have less shitposting but much more buttlickingposting. And worse of all, more and more a single line of thought.