Topic: Not Another Merit Question. Please Hear Me Out (Read 431 times)

Merits were actually introduced to this forum only in 2018 as a protection against too much spamming on the forum.
Until then, new members reached the legendary forum rank exclusively based on their activity on the forum and no one thought about the merits.
Members were active on the forum because they were interested in certain topics or simply enjoyed participating in certain discussions.
With merits, it is different now, but I believe that for some members, merits have no importance and that they are here on the forum because they want to participate in interesting discussions or share their knowledge and experiences with others.

I want to believe most of legendary members that attained such feat didn't set it as a target. They just kept on doing what they like, making positive contributions on the forum, and the merits just kept coming. Probably it was after some time that it struck them that they have actually reached a milestone. I don't see why you or anyone cannot achieve it. My advice is that you shouldn't make it a target or a priority, just keep learning, improving and making quality contributions and the merits will come.

Although I'm not in such a select club and I doubt I will ever be, I'd like to give my opinion on the topic and tell you my experience.

As far as I've seen, there are different types of >5K merited members. Most of them are very long term users who have contributed a lot to the forum and therefore they deserved this "prize" if you see it like that, while others simply have a lot of talk and made friends of the right people in the right moment. Exactly the same as in real life, but with a slight but crucial difference: in the forum, chance plays a very little role: from my perspective, since 2018 we live a true meritocracy.

On the other hand, there are a few exceptional cases who joined a few years ago but still stood out really fast. That is the case of DdmrDdmr, for example, with more than 2K merits per year. I think that these members don't have a goal, they simply strive to do things right. On the contrary, those who take it as a race usually get stuck at 1K: they get their Legendary rank, and as soon as they achieved their goal they often lose motivation.

Of course, I don't have the absolute truth and this is just my point of view. Please, contradict me or complete my understanding of the situation.

Thank you very much, What I meant was "have a chance too.." Maybe I mistyped and it seems a bit inappropriate. but, that's okay, I'll fix it again. Thanks for your advice and I really appreciate it for future improvements to make it even better. But, I like this conversation.

Those legendary members that reach the milestone of five thousand merit some of them started when their was introduction of merit sources, the only thing I know quite well that will make someone to earn merit that will reach to the specific amount of merit you mentioned, the user most have engaged itself seriously to ensure that it has earn such merit, the only thing I know that will make you to earn such merit very easy is when you are good in technical of bitcoin development.

There's no forum user that's entitled to earn a merit, if you make high quality posts, then you definitely have a higher chance of earning merits and progressing in ranks, but you're not entitled to it, other users still have to see your posts, read it and merit you. Thus you can't earn it without another user noticing your posts, and it makes 'entitled' the wrong word to use.

My goal is to reach the legendary rank but if I don't get to it, I wouldn't feel disappointed. I have never set any target for merit and I don't think I will ever. My goal is to learn more about Bitcoin, contribute to the forum, and get other benefits from staying here. Having such goals might lead to desperation which is not as good behavior. Setting merit goals can also lead to unhealthy competition. You will always want to compete with others for merit because you want to get to their merit level. It can also lead to disappointment or frustration. Sometimes if you don't get to your merit goal, it might breed discontentment or disappointment. It might not be bad to set such goals but for me, it is better to see this forum as fun rather than a seriously competitive business.

Only you can answer this question, can you score another 5 Legendary with 5k merit?
It's honestly not easy to score 5k merit, but it's not impossible to achieve it. Not many members have succeeded in joining the 5k merit club, only a few members, of course, have been able to get there.
It's only natural that they are treated preferentially when registering in the signature campaign, their unlimited contributions to the forum have put them in the position of first class members in the forum.

As I explained above, it's not impossible to achieve it, you can get there if you can contribute more to the forum. Something that has been achieved by other people can still be followed, you might be part of those who have managed to collect 5k merit.
Keep trying until you succeed at your goal, if at any time you feel tired or feel unable to be part of a member who has collected 5k merit, at least you have tried.

It's not an offence to have the desire of knowing more about the merit system, but knowing that you're after the interest of having merit being a newbie is not too good for you to develop such attitude because you will loose focus and concentrations, the you will also present yourself as someone having another personal agenda in mind for coming to this forum, what a newbie needs is the knowledge and understanding of both the forum and bitcoin and not how to physh for merit


Am not a 5k merit gangs but am aspiring to belong there one day, it's good to set a target and also to fulfill the target set and this has to come with alot of demands from us before it can be achieved, we are not meant to by all means get there but the quality delivery we make opens way for us to get the opportunity of being among the best.

All are entitled to merit if what is conveyed or asked is in accordance with data and facts. I think the one who gave it was not without a clear reason. Yes. I myself agree with you, please make relevant posts and respond constructively. Don't ask A, answer B. It's impossible and it's funny. But, I think everything needs a process and stages to get used to it.

If you talk about merits is like that's the only target you have on this platform but focusing on quality post how sure are we that the merit that we shouldn't think of would come? Because is when you have merit that's when you reach those higher ranks like hero and legendary.
And in as much as we want our ranks to grow or to get more merit we must still do what's best for the Forum, what will make it grow not to think of getting merit and trying to rank up. To me I won't advise any newbie to only focus on quality post but it should be the two, quality post and merit, they're both important.



To me, I don't think anyone has it in mind that they'd reach a certain amount of merit, if you keep posting something interesting you might get lucky and get a merit but you shouldn't expect it to always come whenever you make any post. And being active doesn't assure you that you'd get a merit is just hard work and what you have to offer then eyes would see the effort you put in to your work.

Although the merit system was not created to make anyone obsessed in acquiring specific numbers of merit but it just baffles me sometimes to see some members here who have acquired so much merit and I begin to wonder how possible is it for someone like me too to achieve such, for example o_e_l_e_o, loyce_v , JayGuanGee, fillippone, these are users which anytime I see their number of merits it give me goosebumps because I know how hard it is for me to accumulate some merits although I try my possible best to contribute in the best way I can in the forum and I can say am growing but still doubt if it is possible to have a profile with so much merits.

Meriting system has its clear goal not to make the posters obsessed about it but to create more motivation and encourage newbies to improve their post quality so they won’t end up spamming in the forum. With merits, newbies are entitled for high rank position once they consistently post high quality and valuable discussion. However, in my time, though meriting system is not that important, and so I just remain active in the forum and just continue to contribute based on what i know that will be beneficial for other members.

Personally, it seems to me that there is too much talk about merits on this forum.
I believe that there are many members on this forum who find such discussion completely uninteresting and irrelevant.
Ok, for new members, if they have the ambition to reach higher forum ranks, up to legendary, merits are important, but otherwise I don't see any special importance of merits for members who are already legendary or they don't care which rank they have on this forum.
Regardless of rank, anyone can read posts on this forum, participate in discussions and write posts.

I had to take the time and scan through this thread before dropping my piece, I had to scan for the targeted 5k merit plus user’s response and thus far, only DdmrDdmr happens to have stepped up to share a light to the OP’s curious mind.

Even still, I think it would have been more appreciated should someone who have attained this milestone with the merit system in existence (by that I mean, kicked off with the merit system in place).

Still, the drive didn’t all settle on gaining the merits but the benefits or preferential treatment that accords it.

One who happens to set goals for himself or herself should also recall not to let his or her goals make them evade principles not to end up wasting their time and resources.

Yes, I think anyone who has attain the rank of a legendary member irrespective of the the number of merits he or she has ought to be regarded and respected here because they have been consistent for years with lots of quality posts to get to that level and giving them preferential treatment when it comes to signature campaigns shows how good their contributions have been in the forum if really there are preferential treatment for the legends as you said. IMO, I think the op shouldn't just admire them but they should also server as your motivation to be consistent here and to emulate their good works in making quality posts which will increase your chances of getting lots of merits that will take you to the rank that you admire. Remember not to focus on the rank instead focus on building your knowledge it will help the growth to come faster than you can ever imagine.

If I remember it correctly, there's a high ranking forum members who did aim to reach a certain amount of merit but as you have said, it is not about focusing on merits but to make high quality posts. The reason why it is frown upon when newbies mentioned or ask about merits is that they will only focus on earning it when the important matter is to learn. The situation is simple enough which is to make high quality or constructive posts then you will get rewarded with merits. Anyway, having 5k merits is I think that it is their motivation to contribute to forum since a forum member won't earn merit by spamming or low quality posts.

I must say I had never become obsessed on merits and just become active in the forum and do what’s supposed to do. And when I find topics that are interesting and which I think I have high knowledge and even significant experiences to share, then I just post based on my personal experience and I think some members have find it genuinely useful that’s why they started meriting my posts. But I should say not all my useful posts are receiving merits, some are just there just to give courage and inspiration especially for newbies.

I came across (google search) the forum during December 2017, reading through information on Bitcoin and then (unfortunately) moved on to reading stuff on ICOs. In early January 2018, three weeks or so before the Merit System kicked-off, I decided to create my account here with not much in mind, though looking over my initial posts, airdrops must have been a kind of driver, and I may have read about bounties and campaigns.

I recall not paying attention to what Merits were for some weeks, but I figure I must have eyed some campaign that accepted Members, and I probably though that it would be nice to get the required 10 Merits (at the time, Jr. Member did not require Merits – that came later, in September 2018). Although I don’t recall it vividly, 10 Merits was probably a sort of lateral objective back then for me, though I remember wondering if I’d be able to make it there, being a total noob as I was back then (not that far ahead now, but anyway).

The first 1K became a sort of objective after a while. Not strictly because of the figure per se , but because, back then, there was a kind of neck and neck "race" to reach 1K between me and LoyceV. He made it to the mark just a few hours before I did on the 27/09/2018; obviously both behind theymos (who made it in just 3 days) and Satoshi (who made it in under 4 months). Being 1K Merits the required amount for Legendary accounts (Activity aside), that was yet another driver, though I viewed it more as a personal pastime challenge than anything else. Any subsequent merits have not been subject to any kind of conscious motivation.

Note: I’m more of the opinion that, for the most, if they want to earn Merits, they should bear them in mind, especially during the mid-to-lower ranks. Essentially, I’d say that one may tend to post better content if he has an incentive in mind, than otherwise, going the extra mile to read, cross-reference, dissect, try out, and so forth. Obviously this is not a one size fits all, and one should not fall into the self-trap of overdoing things too much.

Can you hear you hear yourself out? How does the OP in rush to earn a thousand merit or be a greedy person? OP just asks a simple and understanding question that a cool normal being would ask or have a reason for someday.  

It is expected of you to give your own opinion or suggestions as to what can be done to achieve such a goal than for you to assume and castigate the OP for the simplest question he asked.  By the way, with all the merits the OP has earned(154), he worked hard for it, he didn't earn them for free.