Topic: Merit & new rank requirements - page 257. (Read 167717 times)

Even if my grammar is horrible in this post, it's what I think. I mean, there is absolutely no reason to make the rank dependant on merit. Merit could've been an extra indicator for an account, like trust. Something like 'post quality' with a second ranking system. That way everybody could have started at 0 Merit. That would've been fair and everybody would've been equal. To assume that a Hero or Legendary Member always creates valuable posts is just nonsense. But that is basically what the conversion did.

Let's assume an average user posts 100 posts with 30% low-quality, 60% medium-quality and 10% high-quality posts, then he maybe gets merit for 15% of his posts. Now you need to take into account that the actual number of merit points highly depends on where he posts (how many are reading the post) and whose opinion he shares. This means at leas 7 merit per valuable post is needed.
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.

The same post, advocating for the exact opposite or a different solution, wouldn't have gotten nearly the same amount of merit. Because even if there was an equal amount of people who don't support the system, they wouldn't have used said system.

So now it's basically finding topics that Hero/Legendary Members support or like because they are the ones who have the most merit to give and the more you have of something, the easier it is for you to part with a small amount of it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a system that improves the posting quality, I'm merely hinting at some of the flaws this implementation has  

Any chance you could extend this to those of us with potential activity >=775 Legendary just got a lot lot further after this update...

Every community thrives on the entry of new members to keep the community refreshed and expanding.

Do the new entrants need time to settle down and adjust to the rules and regulations of the forum? Of course they do. Will some of them be spammers? Of course. Will some of them need time than others to learn the ropes? Most definitely!!!

But that does not mean we should neglect the fact that EVERY SINGLE Hero/Legendary member today was once a newbie. Some of them did a lot of spamming on their way to the top, a lot of them found it difficult to adjust to life here but they did and it has paid off.

When I was a newbie I never spammed because I had a lot of crypto training from my crypto mentor on how to evaluate projects and ICOs as well as a million and one things so even though I was still a crypto novice and a newbie here, I never spammed because of the deep respect I had for the forum plus it wasn't my very first crypto forum oddly enough.

What a lot of people supporting this shit merit system do not get is the fact that truly legit upcoming members who had to work hard to get to the middle levels are not happy to be affected by something we were never guilty of in the first place.  

One thing is for sure, if there is zero incentive to earn money on this platform there will likely be only a handful of people here. Anyone (and that includes high ranking members) claiming that the monetary benefits of rank increase through translations, bounty management, signature campaigns, social media bounties did not serve and still doesn't serve as an incentive is a BIG FAT HYPOCRITE.

This new system if not reversed or at the very least revised will adversely affect the traffic here. I mean,, let's be real...the major reason people want to rank up Is so they can enjoy the benefits high members are enjoying..and now you tell them they have to earn the accolades from those accusing them of ruining the forum in the first place. The irony of it all. Sad shit

Plus now if you had multiple accounts for spamming they just officially gave you multiple merits to burn and sell as you please. Even if you make the nicest comments and deliver the most informative posts doesn't mean a soul will be compelled to send you a single merit.

I could go on and on but sleep calls...I believe I have made my point.

The motive is undeniably great...the method sadly unquestionably flawed!

merit point is an effective innovation and best solution to narrow activity of spammers that continue to increase and this is very useful as a filter for the post is more useful and has a quality,
And certainly provide a positive effect for quality post progress in the future,so of course in need of a creativity to be do post at any time.

I guess what the guy mentioned is two componental merits will combine into final merit points. For example, with junior members, if they are active, they will receive one of two merit points each month. I think this one is extremely stricter enough to stop spamming. That what this guy tried mentioning about first part.

+1 sM

Says the guy espousing that sM are not meant to be hoarded while ...  

EDIT: It seems I'm mistaken as to what I was alluding to  : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=merit;u=35 (carry on!)

Meanwhile, looks like I was beaten to the punch: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.28 (yep, gave +1 sM; hope he doesn't hoard them  )

Thanks for the discussion and I appreciate your point of view. Just one final point - your first part is already achieved by the Activity system. It's based on your own effort, you get max 14 points in 2 weeks, etc etc.  So in essence, the two parts you mention just described what the current system offers.

There is an element of chance but it also depends on the quality of your posts. You get a better chance if your posts are higher quality. Compare to the old system where everyone had the same chance whether they post useless one-liners or broker Middle East peace.

The other aspect of the new system is that you're essentially competing with other posters for the limited amount of merits. In other words, you don't necessarily have to meet a specific criteria, maybe being your own self is enough. E.g. if 90% of the forum are shitposters and you're not - you should be fine.

You should run for president!!! This is the best thing I have read on this thread all damn day!!!

I decided that the previous allocation was too unfair in this area, so everyone with activity >= 775 got 500 more merit if they didn't already have 1000 merit (and also Lutpin). No extra sMerit, though.

As I said in my previous posts, I totally agree with you. Merit system which highly correlated with ranking system is good, but it has drawbacks. And this one partially is a system of luck, of chance, of randomized generosity. Lower users have to almost totally or partially depend on others to be upgraded. Therefore it should be adjusted a little bit.
Merit system should include two parts:
1. One part for users effort for themselves. Increasing their merit points weekly, monthly by a certain number of merit points, such as 2,5 merit points per month, etc. in a way extremely stricter than maximum activities monthly. Final merit points per month should be discussed more.
2. Merit points they can get from others who appreciated their posts which are both useful and high-quality.

Two parts will sum up users' total merit points.

Well, you have a point of course and perhaps getting the necessary number of Merits for each rank isn't all too difficult (though I think it gets more difficult the higher rank you go).

I think the original intention of the Activity system is to reward active members who contribute to the forum, and assign a ranking for them. It is an own-merit system (my own unofficial term), meaning you yourself control the destiny of your rank. It has its flaws of course, as is the reason for now introducing an additional Merit system.

The only concern I was pointing out on the Merit system is that it is a subjective system dependent on others (and not an own-merit system). This means, you are dependent on not only getting recognized by others but also being favored by them to hand out merits to you.  It's a system of chance, depending on whether someone notices your post.

All things said, this just represents my initial impression.  Perhaps I could be amplifying the picture or perhaps I could have misunderstood the system, and my concerns may be unfounded.  Time will tell how this unfolds.

This is a welcomed addition to the forum. When I saw my merit score, I was elated but was wondering how I got the score.  Now I know. It is also good because it will enhance more reasonable posts by members.

I like your image, this tell lots of thing. The merit system is good in general, but it has still have some drawbacks, which should be eliminated in order to keep the merit system is a truly fair one, keep it as fair as possible for all ranks of users.
Anyway, I support the idea of merit system which related to user ranking.

It doesn't. My point is more on the ranking. When I joined, I accepted the ranking challenge and tried to make meaningful posts on each of my messages/replies. It's a nice way to encourage being active in this forum and helping others, and not just be lurking or posting only when help is needed. And of course, it's gratifying to see me moving up from Newbie to Jr. Member and hopefully higher.

So to be clear, I can still visit threads and contribute.  I just feel the additional Merit system will add another layer to users here, and instead of focusing on contributing to the threads, it adds a new dimension of finding how to reach their target Merits in addition to reaching their target Activity.

I understand there is an issue in terms of spamming and flooding posts just to be able to join bounties and all. These are money after all and it is general human behavior.  I believe the objective of all this is to tackle the issue of 1) limiting the number of new users to genuine users and 2) reducing, if not eliminating, the amount of spam in this forum. It's a tough balancing act. Time will tell how this new implementation will fare.

The Merit system reifyies and institutionalizes Legendary power structures!  

Legendary members with more activity must have their privilege checked, because meritocracy is a racist tool of white supremacist ideology.

Source: https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9874

There is no monopoly. You are free to post in any other forum or chatroom, or just close your browser and hike the Appalachian Trail.

But I'm getting a feeling that it's not posting, reading, or otherwise participating in this forum you're concerned about. Am I right?

On that changing of systems we can see now whose people who have a high possibility or potential to extend their position up to legendary. We can see who's people having helpful comments or opinions. I believe that more of the users extend their knowledge to become helpful and knowledge their post in bitcointalk.

In addition those shitposter have lessen their chance to having higher rank. But it's better if they have no demotion of position because people who achieve that we're deserve it.