Topic: Which one of this is important most? (Read 514 times)

Different, but your two posts are hard to tell apart for this forum. What I understand by reputation is people's view of other individuals. While achievement is a result achieved from his efforts. It may rise in the rankings because of useful posts, get the most Merit awards in one day and another.  In real life we might be able to see it more easily. Sometimes people have a good reputation but no achievements. But there are people who have good achievements will certainly change their reputation. So sometimes it doesn't become a dependency. If in this forum will continue to follow members who are in good standing, of course have good achievements. IMO

I kinda think the both are really important in the forum as both kinda follow each other because in your journey of building a good reputation here in the forum your ratio of acquiring merits from reputation members will be a standing ground for you and probably what actually builds you a reputation, if you are good and you know what you are doing the reputation and merits befitting that reputation will come to you.

The both of them work hand in hand. You need the merits to increase in ranks and at the same time, it's the reputation that gives more merits. Imagine offering your services here for instance and you haven't built a reputation here, you might not be given much attention.
Sometimes newbies are more invested in getting the merits but fail to create a platform for such to happen by thinking it's just a matter of being consistent, but not making quality posts because that can also build your reputation here. The way I see it reputation and merits go together like suit and tie.

Both reputation and merit are important, so you can't choose one of them only. The forum members won't respect you if you have bad reputation, people will see you negatively. It will harm you when you have a bad reputation, you won't have a chance to join any campaign here. You must be aware that the members with negative trust are always excluded from any signature campaign. Regarding merits, you will have no chance to grow your rank if you never earn merits. To grow your ranks, we need merits and activity. So, it is impossible to have high rank without merits.

Both are actually very important if you want to be a significant member in the forum. Merit is highly needed because that will enable your account to rank up until you hit that legendary level. The higher your position will be, somehow people will look up to you as a highly important member because of your helpful posts in the forum. At the same time, having a good reputation is also very vital. You will never stay longer in the forum if you have no good reputation, and you will never gain respect and value from other people if your personal identity causes destruction to the rest of the members.

This depends on how the owner of the account wanted to establish his account.  If he wanted to establish trust then it would be reputation that he should be building while if the person is wanting to rank up, then it should be the merit through quality post that he should be building.

If you will ask me between the two, I can say that reputation is way more important because if it is tarnished, all your hard works of building your merit will become a waste in just a red trust especially if you aim to join campaigns where the manager is very sensitive on the trust page of the applicant.

I do think that it boils down on how a thread can be considered as "quality" in the standard of this forum. While I do understand that lots of newbies want to rank-up, not everyone can which begs the question on how a thread can be considered as quality.

Well for starters, it must be engaging enough in order to attract audiences. In addition, the thread must be of substance where it offers any insight from others; provide useful information across different channels of cryptocurrency-related news; or even a discussion.

If there is one thing that I have noticed, it is that a well-decent reply may garner a merit. For example, by simply observing the basic rules of sentence construction and a proper understanding of grammar, you can actually achieve a merit.

I agree with this that both merit and reputation are totally different but are important and should always compliment each other. While you need to get merits because that will increase your rank or position, building your  good reputation too is a must because that will determine if you can be a trusted and significant member, or just like anybody else who’s focus is for your selfish desires only. At least, you need to respect others so you can be respected, and you need to share quality information as that would mean helping other members in the forum. That way, you will gain good reputation and unlimited merits in less time.

Merits are a bonus, while reputation is who we are here, how do we maintain our reputation and also increase our reputation on the forum. The better the reputation, the better our contribution to this forum, shouldn't this be like that and this is a natural and normal thing? Meanwhile, merit is like a bonus, someone can give their merit to our posts because these posts are deemed worthy. but on the other hand, everyone's views and opinions regarding the awarding of merit may also differ.

Everyone has a different purpose for coming to this forum, so some are here to learn about Bitcoin and other altcoins in order to be successful investors, while some are here to create accounts and rank up the accounts in order to such just participate in signature campaigns to earn money. So many people that are here with the aim of participating in signature have their first aim to be earning merits and ranking up their account by any means, especially newbies. I see newbies with such an attitude, but I believe that they never understand much about the system, not knowing that they are the ones that need reputation the most. Let them know that it is a good reputation that can keep someone in the forum forever and the opportunity to continue earning merits.

Well, if you don’t create a good reputation in the forum, then most likely you will never receive any merit. Merits are earned not only because of your high quality post but also because you have been a great model in the forum especially if you have been showing positivity all over. So my choice is that reputation first before anything else. And the only thing that keeps you stay in the forum is having a good reputation, otherwise you’ll be banned permanently if you show rudeness to your co-active members.

Here, you have the opportunity to earn merits, but reputation cannot be earned directly. You must cultivate your own reputation. It's important to note that merits and reputation are distinct from each other. Simply earning merits does not automatically make you a reputable member. Many users on this platform have achieved legendary status by accumulating merits, yet they may not possess a strong reputation. On the other hand, some individuals may have earned fewer merits but are considered reputable. The key is not to post with the sole intention of gaining merits but rather to share your thoughts in your own unique style. It's advisable not to overly focus on criticism and instead concentrate on expressing yourself authentically.

I was unable to understand some parts of your post after I must have read the advice that was given to you. I understand that not everyone speaks English as their first language, but at the very least, try to write and explain things so that others can easily understand them and add their thoughts and information to your post. Downloading the Grammarly keypad from the Playstore will allow you to fix and correct your mistakes grammar.

Having said all of that, maintaining relevance in the forum necessitates reputation as well as merits for each user. If a forum participant has merits but no reputation, everything about him in the community is ruined because no one can respect or trust him. He'll be seen as having moral character issues.

Because of this, you'll notice that many forum users uphold their principles to prevent harming the reputation they've worked so hard to establish on the forum.

When look at this illustration and points made you will see that bitcointalk newbies are not after reputation and what they are after is to earn a merit and rank up so that they will start earning in bitcointalk, why people that has be ranked up is much interested in earning merit and what they are interested is to make sure that their reputation is visible. Some times some people who is interested in merit will not like to engage in conversation but they only concentrate in creating new threads, why people that is looking for good reputation is answerable to any question and conversations

Uhmmm...I'm gonna quantify it real quick so you'd understand exactly the comparison you've made ... One is a NECESSITY, the other is a CATALYST.
I hope you understood what I meant by those two words?... You cannot strive in here with a bad reputation - mostly when it's a fraudulent or fishy one... That could likely get your account some few more red tags than expected, which invariably makes the account useless. Merit is a catalyst cus it ignites and guarantees your growth in here - that's if you're really keen about growing! Cus alot don't care and haven't got a hundred merit since the day of registration which could be maybe since -2015? Even more... Seen someone without any merit but with 1k post and activities....isn't that hilarious?

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

Having both merit and reputation is essential, and one of the core principles of the forum revolves around merit. Merit serves as a stepping stone for progress, as it determines your rank achievement. Without a rank, even a simple task like posting a regular picture to demonstrate something becomes inaccessible by default, earning merit holds great value, but if you aspire to succeed in the forum, you must maintain integrity. You need to establish a path that speaks for itself, even in your absence, the forum members should be able to defend and vouch for you; You need a reputation to engage in forum trades or seek a loan, however, to achieve that, you must have a source of income, which can only be earned by acquiring merit and participating in a signature campaign. The two aspects are interconnected and mutually supportive.

Both are important but the higher your merits the likelihood that your reputation would be stronger. If you have more merits it means that you are an active member on the forum, it means that you are knowledgeable about the subject matter of bitcoin and its ecosystem. It makes other users on the forum have some sort of respect and regard for you and whatever you have to comment on a topic. My conclusion is that merit is important while reputation which is also important flows naturally from it.

The forum has merit requirements that make it rank up higher rank of course already built a reputation in the community. People with higher number of merits for example is the members who have the 2k merits above already shows on the merit they have they contribute a lot of content that help the community by that they can get a good reputation. But of course sometimes it happens that you have a low merit but you gain a lot of reputation through the services you are giving, reputation will gain trust of the people.

I think merits gives reputation on the forum and a user with over three thousand (3000) merits should  be qualified to be called reputable because we all know it's  always not easy to rake in merits and it only takes a good and quality poster to comb in such amount of merits.
I wouldn't  have to say that merits  and reputation  compliments each other, but I will rather say that it take merit to earn any reputation  on the forum  and that is why a brand  new account or a very old account without merits irrespective  ofhow much good and nice post tye account has, without merit, its not classified  as reputable or seem to have any value.

Merits gives room or paves way for reputation in the forum.

If the purpose of this topic is about merit, start posting something useful for other members, then you can easily get merit. Reputation will be formed by always consistently maintaining quality posts, no need to compare your posts with posts by members who rank higher than you. Let it be their business, do what you should do, then leave the things that are prohibited.

Reputation, are you referring to trust rating (feedback) or you mean popularity. If you're referring to trust rating it's basically worthless outside the marketplace boards as that's where your rating really matters. But if you're speaking about reputation (which is popularity), I'll chose that over merits. Popularity can get you into places your merits won't get you. Merits can be easily earned as anybody with quality contents can get merited but not everybody can get reputations. Both are important but merit is losing its value for me. If you see an account with high merit it mightn't necessary interpret that the account is a quality posters.

Merits can be gotten from various means today. We have review threads, giveaway threads and merits as a reward for participating in the different official contests organized on the forum.Then we have reputation that is purely earned through your years of giving people a reasons to trust you due to been very professional or been known for your quality contributions to the forum. Having reputation can give you merits as more people see your write up they pick interest in trying to find something worth meriting in your posts but having merits can't give you reputation. You can see some members receiving merits for been known for their quality contributions to the forum and that should let you know reputation is more powerful.

I have recently seen a few videos on Byung-Chul Han's philosophy and realised that users of this forum are quite fortunate to post here. The mentioned author is quite pessimistic on how the identities people invent in different social media end up transforming the real self, not for the better most of the times. Anonymity and distance makes most users behave in a way they wouldn't in real life, and feed back from the same behaviors from different people makes them not only distort reality, but themselves.

We have the luck that most members here are educated people with a common passion who want to help others who share that passion in a collaborative space. Not in vane is this the forum created by Satoshi himself. Maybe this is the reason why, as far as I'm aware, we value respect in a way that is not so typical in the internet today.

So IMO merit is really important, of course, because this is the way you can access paid campaigns or be trusted for other business, but reputation is the most important one because, if Byung-Chul Han is right, it is directly linked to the reputable or mediocre person you truly become.

Before answering your question, I want to ask you back, do you live to eat or eat to live?
Reputation and Merit have a very close bond, without building an account reputation it is very difficult to get merit. Meanwhile, ranking up requires merit, an account with a good reputation with the quality of what you post will more easily bring merit.
Your way of thinking on the forum determines whether it is easy or not to get Merit and Reputation. I think both of them have the same function and role in order to get a bonus in the forum. Merit and reputation are inseparable, your success in the forum depends on both.

Many forums have a ranking system and some privileges for members. But this forum is famous for the fact that newcomers who come here often forget about the very idea of the forum and strive to increase their ranks, being ignorant. It looks pretty funny. And it is precisely from this that we see a lot of new open topics created by beginners, the content of which either does not reveal anything or does not correspond to reality at all.
I would say that everything should go on as usual. A person comes to the forum with the goal of learning about cryptocurrencies, and only after that should he care about rank and merit. How can you talk about surgical operations without having a medical education? In the same way, how can you expect respect if you come and do nothing and act like an amateur?

Both are important. With questions and answers, it is possible to generate positive discussions in providing actual data and information about something, both developments and situations related to the world of critiques. I think each has a contribution in this forum. and regarding the quality of posts or in providing relevant answers and awards in the form of merit, I think each has its own way and pattern of analyzing it.

I do not understand your write up very well but it seems you have already taken side that reputation is more important in the forum than merits. You may be correct but I have these to say based on your question.

• Reputation and merits complement each other
• Every reputable members of this forum has good amount of merits
• But it is not everyone with good number of merits is reputable
• So, it easier to chase merits and get them than to chase reputation which is more related to trust.

For me reputation. If this go down then whats the purpose of your merit? As a person who have it. This is a biggest achievement since if you establish a nice reputation whether you are low rank or high rank, its show how important you are in the forum and that means that other people are respecting you. Merits can come eventually and its based on your quality post or response. But reputation is something you build with your character and thats not easy to attain.

It will depends on what is important to you if you want to deal with multiple people in this forum since you always want to do transaction reputation is better since people could trust you up in any form.

But if your aim is to rank up then maybe to join on signature campaigns then gaining merits should be prioritized so try to select on which is best for you so that you can focus and see the result afterwards.

The forum is a place to learn a lot of things, particularly about cryptocurrencies, but many people mistakenly believe that going there is just to get Marit and start engaging in other activities like signature or doing anything else that would put money in his pocket. I am aware that getting money online is not an issue, but how much can you really make if you don't know how? The bulk of newcomers to the forum are drawn there by merit.
What I'm trying to convey is that in order to rank up or gain merit, a person must be aware of the forum rules, the procedure for earning merit, and the requirements necessary to obtain the merit. To that end, my advise is to visit the beginners' help thread in this forum.

Please don't get me wrong here if am picking out some errors you made while typing this post out so i would like you to seat and read up what you are saying before posting, i dont just come up to peoples topic and comment, i take my time to read on what you are saying regarding the topic before i say anything.

cheers....

My advice to you mate is to try and learn English further you are far from being poor in English, it's extremely hard to understand what you are getting at.

I would be going with what I think other understand from this and that's you can't be a poor poster and rank up here on the forum you would not be able to get merit and there by hou won't be able to rank up.

Rank and reputation are important as you growing here although one is very much necessary and as such one needs to take such with calm while building your account. Ranking is good but that has to do with you getting merited and activities growing so as to sustain your presence here but reputation here has to do with reliability and credibility onboard this platform. You shouldn't be too bothered about that as you have no deal with anyone here. Most times, reputation can attract members to one with high level of it here. It takes you a successful deal as an escrow or any duty here which involves funds or otherwise to behave and being fair in the dealings to earn a good reputation.

"reputation" ⁽¹⁾ is much more important then "merit" ⁽²⁾

it is useless if you have abundant merit but in the end your reputation is destroyed because of something unpleasant that you did in this forum ^{(plagiarism, threats, slander, fraud)}, reputation on this forum is like a foundation on a building, without a good reputation the building ^(account) will be destroyed and it will not be easy to return ^{(the reputation)}, although merit is needed to rank up in this forum, don't chase it too much because you might will accidentally break your reputation.

Reputation is how people see you or their opinion about you and it all depends on if you're doing the right thing or not and the impression people have about you might change. Rank and reputation ain't the same, the rank is the position you are on the forum and the merit system helps to keep it going so without the merit the rank stays without going up. IMO I'd say reputation is important than ranking, because ranking doesn't tell who you are.

There are a lot of member accounts here in the forum that is ruined because of bad reputation, for sure reputation is more important here in the forum because you could have a high-rank profile by earning a lot of merits but at the same time bad reputation like for example you are tag to something like scamming. Your profile doesnt really matter anymore even though you are a legendary rank member here in the forum it wouldn't matter anymore since no one would trust you anymore at some point because your reputation is already ruined.

I mean merits and reputation had connections but are still different things, you get merits by doing high-quality posts and you could rank up by doing that, your reputation will depend on your contribution to the forum that includes your high-quality post, etc you're going to slowly get recognize and earn trust/reputation in the forum. Reputation is still the priority following the rules should be the basic and if you dont follow that you're going to have a bad reputation and probably get ban.

Merits is the reward a forum member will get when they post a constructive posts or high quality post while reputation is how people determine the level of trust you have gain from other forum members. As you have read from other forum members, reputation is how people see a person if they can trust a certain person or not. That's why there's a two level and that is good reputation and bad reputation, good reputation means that a person with good reputation are most likely won't scam people (except when they start having a good reputation but turns out they start as having good reputation before scamming people, most likely who done this are casinos) and bad reputation is how a person will most likely scamming people or promoting scam company or projects.

@OP, on the forum, reputation is measured by two things so far as I know: first, if you carry out a successful transaction with another member and you receive a green target for it, it will help build your reputation as someone who could be trusted for some good business deals; second, if you are a good poster with educative contents, then you will have a good reputation as someone who is always making quality posts that provide solutions to other users questions, and there is no way you will be a quality poster without merit. Based on those two points, you will need them to build your reputation, which, in both cases, you are likely to get merit for. Although there are some shitposters who also manage to earn some merit to rank up just for joining the signature campaign, most of them are not concerned about reputation. Also, there could be other ways that the forum measures an individual's reputation other than what I have said.


Cheers 🥂, Dr.Bitcoin_Strange 👺👺

Reputation simply means the view most people have about you, it could be a good or bad reputation. Based on the content of your post, it can be assumed you mean a positive reputation. Your question can be interpreted as " getting so much money but generally known as untrustworthy and having little but considered as trustworthy, which one is better?

It is not wrong to expect merit from your contribution because you need it to rank up and everybody wants to be promoted. But it becomes a problem when people begin to desire to get merits by all means. They go to the extent of plagiarising, using bots and even lying because they want to get merit by all means. I have seen some posts that are clear lies because it lacks facts and is not coherent. But people will just come up with such talks because they want merit. These set of persons don't care about a good reputation because they have been blinded by the uncontrollable desire to get merits.

Merits are useless without a good reputation. Without reputation, you will not enjoy the forum. People will not always believe what you said even if it is true. You might not also enjoy the benefits from the forum such as signature campaigns because you might not be hired by managers.

We earn merit as a reward for quality posts and contributing ideas to the forum and its users. I also believe that someone's reputation is what defines the person, and it's based on what and how the person behaves around the forum. Our reputations are all being judged based on our own contributions to the forum.

Reputation can be stained and tempered with, but merit earned can't be removed (at least for now, no feature allows that), so if you are to ask me, both are essential, and both help each other because for you to earn some good reputations, you will first be rewarded with merit for your contribution before other recommendations and ratings will follow.

Both of them are important mate. You need merit to rank up to show that you are learning and growing in the forum. While you need reputation to make people trust you and easily do business with you or can entrust something important to you to coordinate. Good name is better than riches and I see that reputation comes from our being sincere and honest with whatever that we are doing here. Good reputation will enable one assign a task to you and will have that confidence and assurance that you are capable to handle it.

Some higher-ranking users have posted low-quality content in the past. Most users probably did so unintentionally. However, as time goes by, you will grow and improve. Many people came to this forum without any knowledge, but now they have become relevant and great contributors.

If you have a very low reputation, your merit count is significantly affected by it. Your reputation can decrease if users, especially trusted users, do not trust you and give you negative feedback. They may tag you if you have violated some rules or if there are proven scam accusations against you.

Ultimately, it is best to follow the rules and not cause any trouble.

The only thing I got from your post is that you are asking I intentionally copied your thread topic out because the body of your post is not clear.

Anyway, IMO both are different. You can be a member who gets merit but with low reputation but on the flip side, a reputable member "should " be able to attract merit unbiased. But the whole point is that some people still believe that merit is still biase when you see some quality post but no merit on it. I think the merit topic is coming up often, just get to work and the merit will locate you somehow.

I never liked questions like this, when they offer to choose from two answers, driving them into boxes. Why can't there be 2, 3, 4 or more answers (alternative solutions)?

Both parameters, that merit, that reputation, in the long run, are important on the forum. What is less important, what is more, I suppose, depends on the stage at which the account / owner is located. You, as a member, are likely to seek merit, which will allow you to increase your rank, which will indirectly also pull your reputation up. When you reach high ranks, merit will fall into the background and reputation will be in the first place. But ultimately, it seems to me that there is some inseparable relationship between merit and reputation.

You are doing the same thing you are condemning others are doing. How are we going to believe this post is no also about getting merit too. Nobody should condemn anyone for writing for merit. It is not a bad thing to want merit because getting merits proves that the members are making constructive posts and we all need it. Everyone needs validation from others at some point. Writing for merit does not affect anybody's reputation provided the person is not begging the merit or doing scam activities.

To be practical Reputation will not upgrade your Forum rank but who is hunting merits in a right way he will have a good reputation. I will not say that forget about reputation and hunt merits but my speech is that contribute in the forum in a right way , Merit and Reputation both will start searching you.

Sometimes we see some are trying merit phishing and they repeat same topics several times and also some make posts from a false story. So they should avoid it because forum members aren't fool at all and if they are caught, merit and reputation both will be gone. This forum isn't a place to get rank quicker, it's a place to learn, to teach and to be a constructive user. Then forum will appreciate you by being a higher ranker with a good reputation.

Both of them work in two different directions. The trust represents the commercial record of the account activities, and based on it, it is reliable to provide this service, otherwise it will need a reliable third party to act as escrow, and therefore it will pay additional fees, and the whole process will be slow.
Merit is a measure of the quality of posts in the sense that a member who creates many posts without getting a merit means that those posts may be spammer, so it is to prove that the user does not normally posting spam and therefore it is used as one of the criteria for selecting people for signature campaigns. you can be zero merit, highly trusted, and vice versa.

Both are different things have different meaning but highly dependent on each other. Many members have already gave their opinions about the definition of Merit and Reputation, so here is what i have to say.

For example:
If you are referring, to those reputable members who make a point like their opinions on some topic and other members give a thought before replying to that post. Like if I take my example, I would have thought either I have to give a legit answer without any favor to OP's point, which could also bring me some merit too. Or I could give a fair answer without giving any favor to OP's point. Which could bring me reputation but also merit too.

Here is a thing to consider both are two different things. If member A is giving you merits due to some post you made him believe that you have good point but there must be another member B who will not give you any merits because your post was not good enough for that member. Which indicates Merits are also distinct like in Set. Same statement goes for Reputation. Because one might respect your point but at the same time other will not. So, both are different but highly interconnected.

Exactly and I tend to agree, this is what supposedly I'm going to say.
Remember, building a reputation takes time and consistency while waiting to rank up as well.  It's important to be patient, stay committed, and maintain a positive and helpful attitude throughout your interactions with the community.  Share your knowledge generously and participate in discussions with a positive and helpful attitude, in that way, it might forum members will appreciate your contributions and remember you for being supportive.

When you didn't do the right thing, merit is useless, and even if you've reached a high rank but your reputation was ruined, it becomes useless because you can't be trusted by anyone else like dealing with some stuff, joining the decent campaign,s and even in trading.

I don't know but I find it hard understanding some part of your write up... But I will do my best. Both reputation and merit are important on the forum but are different from each other. At the same time one cannot be isolated from another as they are both important. Merit is what you earned by your contribution on the forum by the quality of your posts while reputation is you been able to standout in a particular area because of the quality of services you provide or your vast knowledge in a particular area or field. In other words, it can be said to be being able to create a niche for yourself in a particular area.

Merit and reputation are not directly related to each other, but both are an important part of your online presence on this forum. Merits are like recognition for your positive contribution in discussions and sharing of quality information. You need them to rank your account, if that is important to you. Reputation, on the other hand, is about your trust. A good reputation means that other members trust you, or had positive experiences with you, be that as a trader or as a person. A bad reputation means that people are less likely to trust you and may be wary of dealing with you.

it depends on your purpose for being in the forum. This forum is free for those of you who want to learn anything that feels new to you. not only for beginners, but some old senior members in the forum also learn a lot from new members who bring interesting information.
Reputation is seen as an assessment from one person to another. while Merit is appreciation from other members. but I'm sure you don't need to get up or chase both of them. both will come to you when you do the right thing.

The most important thing is to stay honest and share your knowledge. Because both reputation and recognition follow who you are, and not vice versa. If you try to look like someone else, the truth will come out sooner or later anyway, so it's best to develop yourself, and others will appreciate it. If you are active, if you reach new heights and share the experience that you get, recognition will come over time, and a reputation will be formed. It's the same on forums and in real life.

You can't say for sure, which one will be the most important. Just as we know you need both of them to create a good account here on Bitcoin talk. Creating good quality post earns you merits which enables you to rank up.

Same thing goes for your reputation. When a user is fond of spamming the forum with wrong information, or creating services that are unreliable putting forum members at risk, not returning loans or causing trouble on every board of the forum, he ends up damaging his reputation and receives a negative trust from forum members.

Just as you will want to grow your rank, you also should maintain your reputation here on Bitcoin talk. An account with negative trust would have no meaning because no one would want to engage with you even when you have a high ranked profile. a good example, is the profile of

Thule
Rank: senior member
activity:938
Merit:276
Trust: -9  

Both are important. It depends on the persons goals. If someone wants to join a campaign and earn some bitcoin, he will want to have higher rank and earn more. But if someone is just posting and enjoying himself or herself, he will not that consider merit. But if someone is contributing something good on this forum, he will have reputation. The act of having good post itself is part of reputation and merit is given also. I mean not having enough trust or people adding you to their trust list does not mean you still do not have a good reputation after ranking up and join a good campaign. Assuming you want to borrow money, the campaign you join alone gives you the reputation that will let you be borrowed the money. So merit is also very important.

Your posts are most important because you contribute to the community with your posts. Without any post, you don't have any contribution and no merit, no reputation.

Merit and reputation comes together with your quality posts and good contributions. Merit is award from community for your good posts and your reputation takes very long time to be built. It is the last from post, merit, rank to reputation.

Focus on your posts and post quality, if you do it well, others like merit and reputation will come.

Reputation is just like integrity, the ability to remain honesty in every thing you do and not involving in any evil activity such as scamming people and cheating these count on your reputations, while merits earning is the amount of it you need to climb to the next level. Merits comes by creating a quality post or comments in the forum. So both are essential but the important one is to have a good reputation meaning you can be trusted by everyone but ranking does nothing over here.
Merits takes you to the next rank, reputations brings more closer to everyone in the forum because of your honesty and sincerity in everything you do.

If you focus on developing yourself and in also how to help out the forum you'll get both the merits that you seek and also the respect of others...
Just take it like this: if you continue to help others out when they encounter an issue or help newbies in the forum eventually when the newbie grows into a high ranking account that help you rendered to him or her will still be in their heart and to them you'll be a reputable member, while if you continue to provide accurate results or answers to questions most especially technical questions you'll gain the respect of others which is quite equivalent to the reputation you're referring to.

I don’t quite understand what your post entails but I will this quoted part. To the best of my understanding almost both of these two things begets each other. Reputation is gained through the knowledge one shared on this forum, it is also gained by the quality of service provided by a member on the forum. These two things actually brings about reputation on the forum. Now if you look at these set of people they actually started off with quality posts and also on it which begets merit, because merit is awarded to either the knowledge shared or quality service rendered. So the main thing is to make quality posts and things that could make the forum better, these will bring about both things.

As for which is better then my answer is reputation. Because it also brings about merit

You need merits to rank up being on the forum as long as you're interested on staying, this merit has to be something you will work for to earn it through the quality of what you're posting, which does not mean thesame thing as reputation but may be part of what can constitute your good reputation if you're a good poster, talking about reputation, this has to do with you in person, the kind of person you're, what you do, how reliable you're, services you offer, what you promote, what you do, and the mentality of your way of thinking.

I have been thing of this thread for a while now and I have checked a little if there's any but I haven't seen any of it , so a beginning to ask if the post is not quality enough to be posted on this forum or if my research wasn't well searched.
The illustration of this topic is kinda common these days on the forum and the new comers (brawn new and newbies) I don't know if other top ranked users make such mistakes, some of these users post things thinking they can be merited but forgotten about there reputation on the forum, some of these users don't know that their reputation is more important than there ranked on the forum, so it keeps me wondering about merits and reputation which one of this is more important in the forum?.