Quote from: krishnaverma on April 09, 2018, 12:37:39 PM

Getting merits appear difficult now in comparison the situation we had when merit system was launched. This might be because members had used most of their default merit points and we are dependent on merit sources only for merits. The number of new members is increasing at fast pace here and merit sources are not adjusted accordingly.

The first two weeks after launching the merit systems where a bit of a party. People received a new thing and were eager to put it into motion without too much filter. And why not? after all, it was time to play with the new toy and see how it felt to use this feature. Bags were full (airdropped sMerit bags) so it was time to experiment getting the kicks from either end of the two sided transaction, adjusted to each ones own criteria which is bound to be different from one guy to the next fellow down the lane.

The first week passed with nearly 28k sMerit sent around the user base. The second week went by waiting to see the results on the forum and their compliance to declared overall objectives of the merit system. This second week though, afer first weeks hangover, took its toll and sMerit sent went down to nearly 21K.

And so the weeks went by and, as we often see in crypto, a progressive overall decline in sMerit sending took place, being these past weeks stabilized around the 7-8K weekly area. No doubt, users started to give it more value once the initial new toy hype was over, and a more restricted use was inherently set in place in our minds when sMerit bag quantity declined and did not refill at the same rate (merit sources aside).

Not only did the amount sent over the user base decline up to the more or less stable current weekly volumes, but so did the average awarded to a user, going from an all time initial average of nearly 7 sMerit per awarded user, to the current average of around 4 (average on those awarded).

To refute your hypothesis where by users have used up most of their awardable sMerit, data shows that on overall average, only 10%-11% (of users in a sMerit Tx) of accumulated sMerit has infact been awarded so far. So its not down to it being dried out, but rather a conscious use being developed around it and a shift in the criteria for awarding sMerit from the happy first few weeks, moving to a rather more selective and probably evolving criteria.

I myself am on the above average, having awarded only 12% so far, though I try not to hang on to it. Regardless, I am aware that, though sMerit does neither expire not decay (yet) over time, a broader view may be required when awarding sMerit. That is on my to do list.