Topic: Request: Disable merits in the Wall Observer thread - page 4. (Read 2204 times)

Its been mentioned a few times already but its because a lot of merit sources hang out in that thread, and anything pro-BTC or pro-number-go-up is deemed eligible for a merit. That in itself isn't the problem. The problem is that this phenomenon attracts a lot of lazy shitposters (and their new alt accounts) looking for merits to rank up, and that is the only reason they participate in that thread.

The end result is firstly a lot of unnecessary spam and secondly the empowerment and multiplication of lazy shiposters, much akin to the creation of a beggar culture. Its developmentally crippling for these users and if the bleeding heart merit givers really cared for these people they would stop enabling them -- stop teaching them that spamming, sucking up and kissing ass pays.


This is a great impartial observation.

Are you reading this Wordyman?

If you saw people mindlessly copy/pasting Twitter posts in any other thread, would you merit them there as well?

Yes, I remember seeing that.
Looking at your case. You are credible at giving merits, except when you give merits in WO. This doesn't make any sense!

If we consider a source of merit, as someone credible, he will be credible in the whole forum, not just in some parts of the forum.

I attempted to address some of these supposed concerns about purported abusive merit source members in my response in Bob's "parody, but not parody" thread that proclaims that I am the bleeding-heart, irresponsible, merit-distributing (rewarding) problem.

OK. Valid observation... and may even make sense.

Now, is the problem with the board or with those who give it merits? And who gives merits there, are they newcomers or sources of merits?

If they are merits sources, we are calling into question the credibility of these sources. Because they are the ones who give the merits, not the ones who write things there.

I don't know either between the local board or the wall observers that has the highest numbers of merits distribution each day, there's nothing about that, but i wonder sometimes that the bitcoin discussion board hardly earned enough merits as other boards being mentioned, merit may not be disbanded from any board but the simple task to do is to report any suspicious merit phishing act seen on any board irrespective of the user involved.

Nah, I think they are more generous with the posts they like and they won't reduce their generosity levels. Call them drunk or generous it's up-to you, but I'm quite sure that they only merit the posts that they find useful. Sometimes they may merit each other for humorous posts as well and other times they enjoy meme related posts especially something related to Bitcoin.

short version?

at any given time half the WO regulars are drunk and the other half might as well be drunk.

Honestly, I would like to know how the Wall Observer is easier to get mertis, compared to other areas of the forum?
I don't understand this theory. But, okay.

85 vote is done till now from here 50 vote is No and 35 Vote is Yes Shit posters are roaming here too. and they are upvoting (No) for Don't  disable WO topic.  but here they are not commenting he he  

No no no no no no nooooooo.... Do not disable this topic Because we need fucking easy merit with our shitpost  

How about you actually read the above post? Do allow me:



Spot on, me thinks. +1000 merits.


That said, y’ all know how I feel about the merit system in general:

That's fine, I don't care if it moves to another thread. Every other thread has more stern moderation standards, and the offending shitposts I described in the first post here would be deleted as spam. Just tired of seeing my favorite thread being taken advantage of by an ever-expanding army of merit farmers.


Probably a lot, and I considered that. But the fact that 30 users voted "yes" so far is also somewhat compelling... Its not a completely lopsided poll.

I agree that there has been merit abuse in the WO thread so far regardless of how bad it is now - but disabling merit in the thread is not the decision I would most hope for. Merit sources need to make adjustments between who actually posts to discuss something or who posts to get merit. It's true that not fun - but disabling the merit system there is a bit harsh in my opinion.

Tightening distribution is the solution that I think about the most - but all of that must be supported by each merit source to go according to plan.

I think merit policing can cause way more issues in the forum than merit farming. It's a sad truth but the merit farming can't be eradicated 100% even if we take every action against it. Even if we implement new rules for merit sources but that can make the situations worse than they're right now. I don't want to take this topic very longer but if we closely speculate the situation of merit farming on this forum then we will have to disable meriting system on many boards and sub-boards not only the WO thread. I know that there are many posts in WO thread which really doesn't deserve the merits that they received but there are more posts in some other boards where newbies and low rank users got so many merits with a few  posts only.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5185736.300

The above thread by LoyceV is the way to check all those members who got so many merits without putting much efforts.
There are some members of the forum who are trying their best to create helpful content on daily basis but still they aren't getting the merits that they deserve to get.

The real question should be that how to prevent the misuse of merit system by the newbie or low rank members? The answer to that question should be to pose a limit on number of merits a user can receive when his/her account is newbie in rank and such limit should also be posed on those accounts who are newly created. That way the merit farming can be controlled, but I'm quite sure that many members would oppose a system like that and that's why implementing of a system like that may also not be possible due to many opposing votes.

I would agree that it's a good idea, but what will be the new merit farming thread? I pretty much think it will just move to a new thread and we will still have the same issue. Look at the vote, I wonder how many who voted no are part of the farming? I think the only way to make merit different would be policing it, but that's just going to create new issues as well.

Current amount of merit shared is similar to the 2018 but the difference is that compared to then, amount of posts dropped down 75% (and will continue to drop) and maybe even more which then makes it much easier for alt accounts to farm merit.

While merit system is made to stop shitposter ever reaching higher rank, maybe we reached a point where there's simply too much merit being shared around (speaking generally, there are still some parts of the forum that are undermerited) which then makes situations like in WO possible so maybe its time to adjust the amount of merit shared to the current situation.


Maybe I misunderstood theymos, but I always thought that by that he meant that he won't restrict newbies accessing large parts of the forum and only limit them to a certain board, because we have Ivory Tower where low levels can't access meaning he is willing to restrict them to some degree. 

But we're only talking about ONE thread, not the entire forum. Its one fricken thread with a loose moderation standard that is being manipulated by shitposters for the sake of earning merits so they can further their shitposting habits. How about instead of restricting low level accounts from posting there we disable the meriting of these accounts or halt merits from the thread altogether?


I agree with you, but you're already a Legendary... You don't need any more merits. I realize some campaigns have the 'how many merits earned in the last xx days part' but any manager who reads your posts knows you're a step above the average applicant.


This is also very true.

These do not get it or despise it cause they got that "I can you cant" Mentality. They farmed Merits through that same means but do not want anyone else to do the same.

Read theymos' post on how harmful it is to limit newbie participation.

While WO seems to be the place where most crap posts get merited for no reason, there are other similar places like that on the other sub-forums. As I see it, the most merit farming trolls are newbie accounts who copy/paste twitter garbage, generic memes or random crypto-related images. Perhaps if we disable posting in certain places for low level accounts then most of the problem sorts itself out? That way they would have to gather earnestly earned merit from newbie permitted areas first. And having them all in one place, we could more easily filter out the merit farmer newbies from the helpful, merit-deserving newbies. Basically we make it harder for the merit-farmers to get out of newbie jail without actually being useful to the community.

Furthermore,

I think that disabling merits in WO is unfair to those who have a large number in merits in WO and are not merit farming. Around 30-38% of my posts are in WO and while I admit to shitposting every now and then, I feel that I have earned most of my merits in WO rightfully, with somewhat decent informative or conversation-productive posts.

veteran accounts and merit sources need to hand out merit more responsibly. The only reason we see such WO merit farming is because merit farmers get rewarded for their crap posts. And there is too much merit going around, it feels like we are in a merit inflation.

I did not read the responses above, but I will return to them later and perhaps change a few of the convictions below.

---

Although I agree that the abuse of merits is clear in WO and that it has become a way for many to easily rank-up by copying and pasting from the Internet, but the problem is with the people who send those sMerits. Therefore, since signature campaigns do not appear there, there will probably be an additional rule regarding spam, and if the problem is not resolved, then disabling merits is the last solution.

Personally, I think of solutions like:

 - Communicate with those who send merits in private and tell them how harmful they are.
 - Restrictions such as the maximum number of merits per month or for a specific rank.
 - local blacklist: Votes to ban accounts from participating.
 - disabke merits.