Also received a reply that it was a mistake, so all is now good.
Just regarding the discussion here - I believe one of the main reasons Copper Member was created was to stop all the Newbie accounts spamming the Politics, Off-Topic and other sections just to increase their post count. By being able to instantly participate in signature campaigns that do require good post quality, spam can be effectively eliminated. I think this reason shouldn't be overlooked.
Topic: Merit system cancelled signature upgrade of Copper membership? (Read 383 times)
February 01, 2018, 09:18:21 PM
You should have the option to buy a membership with highest ranks privileges to stop farm/sell of accounts.
To be clear: Do you speak of putting a price on rank itself, or selling the ability to wear a large, flashy signature? The ability to affix a colourful billboard to each post is the only practical (as opposed to social) “privilege” of the highest ranks.
I argued vehemently against the purchase of rank when mine was at “Newbie” level; here quoting myself in full:
From the perspective of a paid Copper Member with current “Newbie” rank: Please do not permit the purchasing of ranks. Ever.
Copper Membership makes sense, both for the user and for the forum. It unlocks important posting functionality for newbies. It makes throwaway account creation cost-prohibitive for spammers and sock armies. It adds a dash of prestige, in addition to one’s canonical rank. It’s an all-around good idea.
New paid levels which add higher additional prestige or practical perqs would likewise make sense. I know that when I see a “Donator”, this is someone who cares about the forum to the degree of an endearing foolhardiness. It’s impressive. Lesser degrees of the same effect could be had with hypothetical Gold and Silver memberships.
But the basic system of activity ranks measures socially useful, productive creativity.[1] Buying higher rank would be as if paying for the “right” to pad one’s résumé. It would be like buying the “right” to brag to new friends about achievements you never made. For the highest ranks, it would directly place at market a status tantamount to “pillar of the community”.
If you be wealthy, then you can move to a small town and buy a certain amount of instant goodwill by, e.g., donating money to build a park. But you cannot buy the status of having lived there twenty years. The difference ought be obvious.
Myself, if I could purchase higher membership ranks, then I would never want to obtain any higher membership rank—by purchase, or otherwise; for it would be worthless.
1. At least, in theory. (“Assume a spherical cow.”) Too bad, it seems that mods now face the task of emptying a landfill with a spoon—whilst the garbage trucks keep rolling in, just as they are paid to.
Copper Membership makes sense, both for the user and for the forum. It unlocks important posting functionality for newbies. It makes throwaway account creation cost-prohibitive for spammers and sock armies. It adds a dash of prestige, in addition to one’s canonical rank. It’s an all-around good idea.
New paid levels which add higher additional prestige or practical perqs would likewise make sense. I know that when I see a “Donator”, this is someone who cares about the forum to the degree of an endearing foolhardiness. It’s impressive. Lesser degrees of the same effect could be had with hypothetical Gold and Silver memberships.
But the basic system of activity ranks measures socially useful, productive creativity.[1] Buying higher rank would be as if paying for the “right” to pad one’s résumé. It would be like buying the “right” to brag to new friends about achievements you never made. For the highest ranks, it would directly place at market a status tantamount to “pillar of the community”.
If you be wealthy, then you can move to a small town and buy a certain amount of instant goodwill by, e.g., donating money to build a park. But you cannot buy the status of having lived there twenty years. The difference ought be obvious.
Myself, if I could purchase higher membership ranks, then I would never want to obtain any higher membership rank—by purchase, or otherwise; for it would be worthless.
1. At least, in theory. (“Assume a spherical cow.”) Too bad, it seems that mods now face the task of emptying a landfill with a spoon—whilst the garbage trucks keep rolling in, just as they are paid to.
February 01, 2018, 07:19:13 PM
You should have the option to buy a membership with highest ranks privileges to stop farm/sell of accounts.
February 01, 2018, 05:36:54 PM
Theymos got back to me, turns out it was mistake, Copper members can put links again in their signatures
February 01, 2018, 02:51:18 PM
It's probably just an error. Also, you shouldn't bump this thread more than once every 24 hours. You'll need to PM theymos about it for a definitive answer or fix though.
I send Theymos a PM, hopefully I can clear this up and I hope it was just an oversight
February 01, 2018, 12:40:52 PM
P/S: Please give me merits cause i need that, i'm really appreciate if anyone can send me somes 
.
.FOR SHAME. DO NOT BEG FOR MERIT.
That was ironically stupid, too. The rest of your post expressed something I myself had wanted to post. I may have given it merit. Well, instead, welcome to my ignore list. You are the first; I usually don’t believe in ignore lists, but begging for merit deserves it. *plonk*
February 01, 2018, 11:32:35 AM
b) the amount of sMerits would be higher! A Sr. Member hast 5 sMerit by default? So basically, most of sMerits will come from Hero members and above - see my first point again.
sMerits can come from anywhere, all of the people I've merit'd (see stats below) could be sending 1/2 of them to others, including other Hero or Legendary members. I predict almost noone will "level up" anymore and people will get frustrated. One's post could be outstanding; if there isn't any high ranked & polite member near, it remains "worthless".
The majority of people frustrated are the shitposters who thought they were going to live off the forum by posting useless content.Regardless, I would hope a copper member would be able to get 10 merit points.
Edit: Just checked your (Ibminer's) merit page and found one Jr. Member that sent you merit. Most of them are legendaries / heros.It's not my fault higher ranks post better. It seems obvious you didn't review my merit page like you stated and deserve 0 merit for your post.
And, here are stats on all posts I've merit'd so far... since you made me count.
1 Newbie
5 Jr. Member
4 Member
9 Full Member
10 Sr. Member
14 Hero Member
6 Legendary
Hero + Legendary = 20
Lower Ranks = 29
February 01, 2018, 11:23:57 AM
Quote
You can still be banned if you break the rules. You will not get any special treatment.
These memberships are not guaranteed to last forever, or to offer the same benefits forever.
No refunds will be given.
These memberships are not guaranteed to last forever, or to offer the same benefits forever.
No refunds will be given.
Regardless, I would hope a copper member would be able to get 10 merit points.
P/S: Please give me merits cause i need that, i'm really appreciate if anyone can send me somes
. 
February 01, 2018, 10:48:55 AM
Regardless, I would hope a copper member would be able to get 10 merit points.
Well it would be possible if a) the now high ranked users wouldn't give their merits to their hero / legendary "friends" as it will happen all the time. People tend to give such "goodies" to people they already know; it's just psychology.
Edit: Just checked your (Ibminer's) merit page and found one Jr. Member that sent you merit. Most of them are legendaries / heros.
b) the amount of sMerits would be higher! A Sr. Member hast 5 sMerit by default? So basically, most of sMerits will come from Hero members and above - see my first point again.
I predict almost noone will "level up" anymore and people will get frustrated. One's post could be outstanding; if there isn't any high ranked & polite member near, it remains "worthless".
February 01, 2018, 10:39:26 AM
So it means even you're a copper member , you still didn't get any advantage in the merit system right ? If this is a fact so it's too really too bad to becoming a copper member via donating . I think copper member deserve to have something better than normal members , specially when they're at low ranking.
There are still some advantages. You can post images, time limit between posts reduced. You can add more symbols than Newbie/Jr. Member in your signature. You only can't add clickable links to your signature. February 01, 2018, 10:08:56 AM
This may be something theymos would change but it seems like the main point of the copper membership had to do with being able to post images, and not really about signatures. It did provide "some of the same permissions" as member-rank members, but since member-rank members are now under the merit system as well, I believe Copper Members would still have to get through the merit requirements.
And as it states on the promo page:
Regardless, I would hope a copper member would be able to get 10 merit points.
By popular demand, newbies can now pay to have some of their restrictions lifted. If you pay the fee, you become a Copper Member, and you can post images. That's the main point of this: allowing newbies to post images. Additionally (and these might change depending on how things go), Copper Members currently have these bonuses:
- Some of the same permissions as Member-rank members, such as reduced signature styling restrictions. (But none of the PM-related restrictions are currently lifted, such as the style limit or per-hour PM limit.)
- Your "you must wait ____ seconds between ___" counter is reduced by 75%. So if you're naturally of Newbie rank, you only have to wait 360-75% = 90 seconds.
--snip--
- Some of the same permissions as Member-rank members, such as reduced signature styling restrictions. (But none of the PM-related restrictions are currently lifted, such as the style limit or per-hour PM limit.)
- Your "you must wait ____ seconds between ___" counter is reduced by 75%. So if you're naturally of Newbie rank, you only have to wait 360-75% = 90 seconds.
--snip--
And as it states on the promo page:
Quote
You can still be banned if you break the rules. You will not get any special treatment.
These memberships are not guaranteed to last forever, or to offer the same benefits forever.
No refunds will be given.
These memberships are not guaranteed to last forever, or to offer the same benefits forever.
No refunds will be given.
Regardless, I would hope a copper member would be able to get 10 merit points.
February 01, 2018, 09:52:51 AM
So it means even you're a copper member , you still didn't get any advantage in the merit system right ? If this is a fact so it's too really too bad to becoming a copper member via donating . I think copper member deserve to have something better than normal members , specially when they're at low ranking.
February 01, 2018, 07:11:42 AM
Try moving this thread to Meta to get more attention.
isn't this the Meta thread? or is there another one?
February 01, 2018, 01:24:26 AM
It's probably just an error. Also, you shouldn't bump this thread more than once every 24 hours. You'll need to PM theymos about it for a definitive answer or fix though.
February 01, 2018, 01:19:09 AM
Bumping this. Can an admin please address this? This can get a lot of us disqualified from long-running signature campaigns. We paid for the ability of "Member-like signatures without styling restrictions" as was advertised before purchase.
It's likely an oversight. I don't think the change has anything to do with Merit. Theymos downgraded the signature capabilities of Jr. Members, so that probably affected you somehow. Try moving this thread to Meta to get more attention.
Quote
Some of the same permissions as Member-rank members, such as reduced signature styling restrictions
so Copper membership came with the bonus that you could have a member level signature, but it seems the Merit system cancelled this bonus, and you can no longer have links in your signature as a Copper member
was this intentional or an oversight?
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