...
My opinion is that quality is important, but that the merit sources are to strict for some non-native speakers. Most expect lengthy posts in fluent English, related to Bitcoin. In my view, this leaves an important group of non-native, less eloquent, visitors who will never be able to gather any merits. These members do not deserve to become Legendary members, but I don't think that jr. membership is overrating their contributions. They are ensuring I have new posts to read when I come online, trying to contribute to the best of their abilities.
...
Thanks for dropping in and engaging the discussion in a reasonable manner. I wasn't picking on you, per se, when I used your awarding crocus a merit as an example, it was just convenient and poignant.
However, let me explain my rationale for the warning in this thread: just consider the mindset of a person who mainly posts in spam megathreads - that is, those threads that drone on for dozens to hundreds of pages on subjects which themselves aren't even original. Such a person is not really interested in having a discussion (like this one) rather, they are merely trying to increase their post count, and likely for a signature or bounty campaign.
I don't have a problem with sig campaigns. In fact, I checked out chip mixer specifically because of the quality of people involved in its campaign. But that sword cuts both ways, and I will never consider ingotcoin or eloncity or privcy because of the massive number of shitposts their campaign participants generate.
Oh, and hardly any of my posts are on bitcoin: my primary interest is altcoin mining.
I've personally found new gems in threads such as "which altcoin is the best buy right now", so I'm probably more lenient than most towards these large, generic threads. I've also posted there myself. Their posts seemed "personal" to me, not a generic bot attempting to gain more posts.
However, I didn't review all threads they replied on so I could be wrong. I can't withdraw merits if people got them undeserved, but I do stick with my viewpoint that active participation is for me also a factor, in addition to the quality of posts.