Not that I am taking sides but merit here means very little.
Interesting that you feel that way, when an overwhelming majority of users are unable to attain even a single merit. I'd say merit stands as a very valid marker for something positive, at least when considering the time-period that it was introduced. I'm not going to derail this into a conversation about merit, but you're mistaken if you think it is meaningless or close to it.
Give me a list of the top 20 merit awarded persons on this board.
I don't understand why limiting it to "this" board in particular makes your point anymore coherent. The most merited users are quite the contributors to the community, do you disagree?
most merit is handed out in meta between a tight little group that mostly stick together back slapping...
This is my suspicion anyway. I could be wrong.
You are indeed wrong. There have been many threads, hours of research and curious investigators that have delved into exactly the claim you are making. The findings were that almost all of the merit is sent to people you would not consider to be in that "inner circle".
Merit means practically zero here. Most people have no in depth knowledge of this board and the members here and their post/contribution histories. Most people are generally weak and simply get in line with those they perceive to be the most powerful. That leads to centralisation of power and is not in the spirit of this forum. We should encourage people to examine the facts and make their own decisions.
Care to provide some examples of these members that are being showered in merit for kissing the feet of their lords? You're just dancing with conspiracies for the fun of it at this point.
Have you read through the most recent changes to the trust system?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5095156.0;topicseen We do encourage people to examine the facts, make their own decisions and are actively moving our community towards giving them as much power and influence as possible.
Again this is not a matter of opinion
You're right, this is not a matter of opinion and the facts are not on your side.
this is a matter of being able to demonstrate the users that have historically made the biggest differences in a positive way are not major merit holders.
Who are these members that have made the biggest differences, are active on the forums and haven't received significant amounts of merit for their contribution(s)?
As for saying those that have accumulated less merit here is indication of less worth/respect is completely wrong.
Finally, a point that I agree with.
Merit was introduced ... This has resulted in the main boards especially the main alt discussion board become unusable for most of the best posters and contributors who seem to have left.
The main alt discussion board was unusable far before merit was introduced, so the premise of your theory is flawed. Which posters and contributors have left since the introduction of merit, because of the introduction of merit?
I would call for an analysis tool for the top 100 merit receivers/givers to be examined and see how much this backslapping circle jerking is taking its toll. Actually i think that is my next thing to do.
There are many tools that can be used for this. This has been done many times and you are not suggesting something new.
For example :
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/merit-data-visualization-storytelling-full-interactive-data-3312945There are dozens more, feel free to use the Search function sometime.
FH: Fix the typo in your title, at least, you goof.
Do you believe he was making a serious accusation or do you believe that this was meant as satire? Whether or not you think it was worthwhile or entertaining is besides the point, because I believe you're able to see as well as I can that it was meant as a hypothetical.
The politics section is where the most bitter feuds are formed over ideas and concepts. Tecshare may disagree with you politically, but if they discuss things in a way that you're unwilling to engage with then maybe don't talk politics with them or ignore them entirely. This just seems like a big miscommunication from an outsider's prospective and coming from someone who likes you both this is not worth the drama.