Quote from: MagicSmoker on April 14, 2018, 12:29:41 PM

Quote from: soulcancer on April 13, 2018, 11:15:36 PM

Quote from: MagicSmoker on April 13, 2018, 10:38:57 PM

And 80% of your merit came from posting about... merit.
...

no kidding...that is precisely what I am talking about...in another merit-based thread, I made a mocking post about my rapid merit increase since I started posting about merit ....I have made it a special point to be as crass and repugnant as possible in my comments, to avoid unfairly picking up merit simply for posting about merit, and because I see it as a "kiss the ring and you can advance" system...which I find disgusting...it has probably cost me many ignores...o well, cant educate those who plug their ears...perhaps in all of my ranting what I am trying to say is that merit should not be given out on the merit threads...it is laughably circular

Meh... 75% of my merit came from either helping people out or providing some entertainment value* while 25% has come from posting about merit in meta, which I can't help but find entirely apropos (that is, talking about merit in meta, which is itself meta, hence why the subforum is called meta). So I would say I am both an example of what you claim - that lots of merit can be obtained by talking about merit - as well as a counterexample, in that 3/4th of my merit has not come from talking about merit.

And FWIW, I was definitely conflicted about posting my perspective on merit the first few times for the exact reason you find so repugnant - I did not want to be involved in a circle jerk of meriting, either, just from talking about merit. However it appears I have since taken a different path from you in that I am not actively trying to annoy people to not get merit (nor am I actively courting high ranking members or merit sources to get merit). To quote from Vince Vaughn's character in that epic comedy, Dodgeball, "I've found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya... it feels phenomenal."

* - that said, I was honestly surprised I got a merit for my recent, "meat popsicle" comment, but hey, if someone found it funny and had merit to spare, why not?

circle jerk....I love it...cant believe that one evaded me...and as far as your meat popsicle goes, the whole point of the merit system is supposed to be weeding out the bots and spammers...not a professorial critique of your grammar skills, or an IQ test...it gives me hope that at least one senior member decided to give it up to you for something that was not biblically profound