I woke up and I was a little bit upset to find that my most popular thread "sMerit Review" where users submit their posts for criticism, review and the potential to receive merit. I posted a thread to look for some discussion surrounding this (
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.36298687), hilariousandco stepped up and gave me some explanations for why my thread had been moved. I do not feel personally targetted, because there are plenty of more reputable users than myself that were running similar threads that were also moved to Off-Topic. QuestionAuthority had accumulated more Sent Merits than any user through a similar thread.
I had originally held my thread in the Service section, but a valid explanation arose :
If it doesn't involve a bitcoin payment then it doesn't belong in the Marketplace.
I then asked if my thread would be more suited for the Meta section to which I received an interesting reply :
No. Meta is for forum issues and doesn't need clogging up even more with people begging for merit constantly.
That left me with three questions:
Is Meta exclusively for "issues" or is it for "Discussion about the Bitcoin Forum?"
Do spam, posting-behavior and the distribution of merit not count as "issues?"
Does my thread accomplish more than allowing an avenue for users to beg for merit constantly?
I noticed that BTCForJoe's thread was still alive, so I was trying to figure out the new guidelines through using that thread as reference. However, that thread was then moved from the Service board to the "Games & Rounds" board under "Gambling", which seems out of place. Can there be a thread in the marketplace that involves merit/post-quality?
I'm looking for community discussion on whether or not you guys feel the changes to these threads have been helpful or hurtful. I'm also curious to hear more of a discussion about what would be acceptable forms of these threads, and the proper location of Joe's thread as well. This is an important question, because the single most merit to be sent within a thread comes from exactly this template. It has been a very significant portion of merit distribution up to this point, and it has been extremely positively received from most of the community. Please, cast your vote and share your thoughts. Am I too worried about it? My thread was extremely useful for multiple users to track down threads they want to be a part of or even merit that they wouldn't otherwise have come across.