Topic: My take on Merit (Read 852 times)
You have actually spoken well. An area or catchment which I'm so much curious about is such discrimination about junior ranking members. As much as this merit system is so programed well bringing coherent to the forum. Junior members should be fair enough upon to encourage them.
I don't think it could be implemented without being user selectable. All posts have no merit when they are first posted and if they were hidden then nobody would be able to see them to give merit and unhide them. The way I interpreted the suggestion was as an optional summary view to be used when a thread is too long and you just want to skim through and find the important bits.
Looking at some of the awards, I think it would be more useful to hide posts that have received more than a couple of merits in a single award.
I hope that unmerited post won't be hidden. That will limit the breadth of the thread considerably.
If it is to be done, then please make it user selectable.
If it is to be done, then please make it user selectable.
I don't think it could be implemented without being user selectable. All posts have no merit when they are first posted and if they were hidden then nobody would be able to see them to give merit and unhide them. The way I interpreted the suggestion was as an optional summary view to be used when a thread is too long and you just want to skim through and find the important bits.
I hope that unmerited post won't be hidden. That will limit the breadth of the thread considerably.
If it is to be done, then please make it user selectable.
If it is to be done, then please make it user selectable.
I do not seem to grow to the next rank (
And I do not understand how a person decides whether to send Merit or not .... so now you can wait and try for several years.
And I do not understand how a person decides whether to send Merit or not .... so now you can wait and try for several years.
This isn't true. See the Top-merited users. Nobody has 2500 Merit, theymos has the most (2329 Merit).
Excuse me. My mistake. You are right.
I've seen a few Newbies and Jr. Members quickly collect many Merit points. The point of Merit points is to force people to post high-quality stuff (theymos' words). Ranking up shouldn't be your main goal.
I can also tell you why that is. Because some - very, very very few - exemplary users have started and distributed their merit to the newest and smallest members. And that is very commendable.
Unfortunately, I was only able to award one merit.
Flawless English isn't required.
I think so. Sorry.
Many long-established members have 2500 merit and more. And that too for posts with no more than 3 words.
This isn't true. See the Top-merited users. Nobody has 2500 Merit, theymos has the most (2329 Merit).In addition, this is an international forum. And not all members speak and write flawless English here.
Like me. And even that will worsen the scoring - unaffected by the content.
Flawless English isn't required. Like me. And even that will worsen the scoring - unaffected by the content.
The current Merit account balance is in no way suitable to represent quality.
Many long-established members have 2500 merit and more. And that too for posts with no more than 3 words.
So that does not represent the quality of these postings.
In addition, attempts are already being made to sell Merit.
Does that serve the quality of the contributions?
And members like me, who are 3 or 4 days ahead of a status upgrade, now have an almost impossible task to do.
In addition, this is an international forum. And not all members speak and write flawless English here.
Like me. And even that will worsen the scoring - unaffected by the content.
Many long-established members have 2500 merit and more. And that too for posts with no more than 3 words.
So that does not represent the quality of these postings.
In addition, attempts are already being made to sell Merit.
Does that serve the quality of the contributions?
And members like me, who are 3 or 4 days ahead of a status upgrade, now have an almost impossible task to do.
In addition, this is an international forum. And not all members speak and write flawless English here.
Like me. And even that will worsen the scoring - unaffected by the content.
Well presented on the side of merit system, it in courage me to embrace it.
There may be two sides: [1] the first side is good because it will reduce spam messages and is less troublesome but on the other hand, [2] this can make people "really" the first person to "do not count farmers account" to get smerit and this could be sales and buy smerit
and smerit as well as like in social media
and smerit as well as like in social media
What I gather from that is that anything of value should get a merit. That's also why you may award more than 1 per post. It seems like the scarcity problem is being worked on, so let's just give it time.
In that case my suggestion would be limit the number of merit per post from 50 to maybe 5 and set a limit between individual users. In addition increase the number of merit sources substantially while reducing the number of smerit each source gives to ensure a fairer distribution.
What I gather from that is that anything of value should get a merit. That's also why you may award more than 1 per post. It seems like the scarcity problem is being worked on, so let's just give it time.
That is what I expected when I first saw the merit requirements for different ranks. It makes sense. It would greatly reduce spam without making ranking up nearly impossible. I'm very skeptical of the new system now, but in case of such adjustments I may completely change my mind.
For the most part, I've tried to contribute high quality posts, but I still worry that the scarcity of sMerits will make it extremely difficult for me to rank up to the next level.
That's because the system is currently not working as theymos intended. This is from another thread:
@DooMAD
If they're really not adding anything, then they shouldn't get merit. But it doesn't need to be mind-blowing, either. Someone suggested a feature where all umerited posts would be hidden (which I may do at some point) -- I think that it'd be good to look at it as asking what posts you would want in such a summary. So not just incredible posts which might've taken an hour or more to write (those should probably get 10+ merit), but also the questions, arguments, jokes, etc. which couldn't be removed from a thread without starting to lobotomize it.
It's all very new, of course, so maybe this strategy will not actually be the best, but it is what I had in mind when designing the system.
@TMAN, I have been adding sources, and I will continue.
If they're really not adding anything, then they shouldn't get merit. But it doesn't need to be mind-blowing, either. Someone suggested a feature where all umerited posts would be hidden (which I may do at some point) -- I think that it'd be good to look at it as asking what posts you would want in such a summary. So not just incredible posts which might've taken an hour or more to write (those should probably get 10+ merit), but also the questions, arguments, jokes, etc. which couldn't be removed from a thread without starting to lobotomize it.
It's all very new, of course, so maybe this strategy will not actually be the best, but it is what I had in mind when designing the system.
@TMAN, I have been adding sources, and I will continue.
What I gather from that is that anything of value should get a merit. That's also why you may award more than 1 per post. It seems like the scarcity problem is being worked on, so let's just give it time.
That makes a lot of sense, but it seems like the sMerits are too scarce. I liked the OP's post, so I gave him my first merit. However, I only started with 5 so I feel like I can't give them away too easily UNLESS I start to receive them relatively easily. If what you described plays out, it should work pretty well so I hope people are generous with them.
Your reply definitely made me rethink how I should be spending my own sMerits, so you'll get one from me see well. I'll make a conscious effort to try and spend them as frequently as possible, regardless of how many I hold.
In most local topics, you can see merit buying/selling posts. So anyone hoping Merit will increase the post quality will be disappointed...
once found out, expect them to get tagged by DT1/2 and received neg trustI believe this merit thing would slowly change the quality of the posts we see on this forum
only time would tell, lets hope the best for our beloved forum
In that case, these people will take their "merit trading" activity outside the Bitcointalk, probably in digital point or other forums. If they do that, then there is hardly anyway to identify these users. Another danger is that rather than doing account farming, those users who want to enroll in to multiple signature campaigns may purchase dormant accounts of higher rank (once again, outside Bitcointalk).
Something released by users like this one
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/list-users-that-are-abusing-merit-system-2823221
Is it useful? I guess most of you will say YES, right?
However, the real problem is we can not judge them, or demerit them, etc. We almost can not do any punishments - which might lead to over-debate - for those violations, abusement in the forum.
The situation will become very complicated!
For the most part, I've tried to contribute high quality posts, but I still worry that the scarcity of sMerits will make it extremely difficult for me to rank up to the next level.
That's because the system is currently not working as theymos intended. This is from another thread:
@DooMAD
If they're really not adding anything, then they shouldn't get merit. But it doesn't need to be mind-blowing, either. Someone suggested a feature where all umerited posts would be hidden (which I may do at some point) -- I think that it'd be good to look at it as asking what posts you would want in such a summary. So not just incredible posts which might've taken an hour or more to write (those should probably get 10+ merit), but also the questions, arguments, jokes, etc. which couldn't be removed from a thread without starting to lobotomize it.
It's all very new, of course, so maybe this strategy will not actually be the best, but it is what I had in mind when designing the system.
@TMAN, I have been adding sources, and I will continue.
If they're really not adding anything, then they shouldn't get merit. But it doesn't need to be mind-blowing, either. Someone suggested a feature where all umerited posts would be hidden (which I may do at some point) -- I think that it'd be good to look at it as asking what posts you would want in such a summary. So not just incredible posts which might've taken an hour or more to write (those should probably get 10+ merit), but also the questions, arguments, jokes, etc. which couldn't be removed from a thread without starting to lobotomize it.
It's all very new, of course, so maybe this strategy will not actually be the best, but it is what I had in mind when designing the system.
@TMAN, I have been adding sources, and I will continue.
What I gather from that is that anything of value should get a merit. That's also why you may award more than 1 per post. It seems like the scarcity problem is being worked on, so let's just give it time.
I've got mixed feelings about the merit system. I agree that it'll help combat post spam, but I have to admit that it's kind of demotivating.
For the most part, I've tried to contribute high quality posts, but I still worry that the scarcity of sMerits will make it extremely difficult for me to rank up to the next level. I know that's the point, but I kind of feel like I'm being penalized even though I've tried to maintain a high quality account.
For the most part, I've tried to contribute high quality posts, but I still worry that the scarcity of sMerits will make it extremely difficult for me to rank up to the next level. I know that's the point, but I kind of feel like I'm being penalized even though I've tried to maintain a high quality account.
In most local topics, you can see merit buying/selling posts. So anyone hoping Merit will increase the post quality will be disappointed...
once found out, expect them to get tagged by DT1/2 and received neg trustI believe this merit thing would slowly change the quality of the posts we see on this forum
only time would tell, lets hope the best for our beloved forum
In that case, these people will take their "merit trading" activity outside the Bitcointalk, probably in digital point or other forums. If they do that, then there is hardly anyway to identify these users. Another danger is that rather than doing account farming, those users who want to enroll in to multiple signature campaigns may purchase dormant accounts of higher rank (once again, outside Bitcointalk).
4. Why do ranks even matter, it's not like it makes a difference?
This is one question I found myself answering earlier and the real short of it is this. Rightly or wrongly people can make money by posting in this forum, as they increase ranks, their earning potential increases. The community is incentivised to contribute and help one another by such things as signature campaigns. If we end up in a scenario whereby the elite remain elite and those at the bottom remain at the bottom then it will only promote discontent within the forum. It is vital for the forums success that there is always a progression and a constant stream of new members. If these new members feel that the same opportunities are not afforded to them then they won't stick around.
I don't have an alt... not everyone gives a shit about stuff like that
4. Why do ranks even matter, it's not like it makes a difference?
This is one question I found myself answering earlier and the real short of it is this. Rightly or wrongly people can make money by posting in this forum, as they increase ranks, their earning potential increases. The community is incentivised to contribute and help one another by such things as signature campaigns. If we end up in a scenario whereby the elite remain elite and those at the bottom remain at the bottom then it will only promote discontent within the forum. It is vital for the forums success that there is always a progression and a constant stream of new members. If these new members feel that the same opportunities are not afforded to them then they won't stick around.
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