Now, it is somewhat difficult to tell whose voice is louder in the debate, and even more difficult to tell who has the more valid point of view. And how about a little statistics? A nice way to evaluate the performance so far of the Merit system towards achieving the set objectives would be a measurement of the impact of the Merit system on the forum, and forum traffic is one important parameter.
An overview/analysis by Similarweb.com of total visits to Bitcointalk.org on desktop and mobile web in the last 6 months shows a steady and gentle increase from a little over 20m in Sept., 2017 to over 60m in January, 2018, and then to a sharp and continuing decline to 34.5m in Feb., 2018. This decline is not just happenstance. It perfectly coincided with the introduction of the Merit System.
See stats https://www.similarweb.com/website/bitcointalk.org.
The likely implication is that the Merit system is demoralizing low cadre members who needs to attain higher levels of membership. However, some here may argue that a few meaningful member activities is worth more to the forum than much activities of little or no value. Be that as it may, we should acknowledge the fact that traffic is equally important in the web ranking and worth of the bitcointalk forum. So, I think BCT Administrators should have a reappraisal of the Merit System – carefully weighing anticipated benefits against perceived costs – and come up with a more effective, yet forum friendly solution to the problems. What do you think?