Before all of y'all start complaining and making a billion new topics about being demoted, read
this announcement from theymos. Essentially:
Due to excessive garbage-posting, you now need 1 merit to be a Jr Member. All existing Jr Members who didn't meet the requirement were demoted. Also, newbies can no longer set any signature or personal text.
It's not super difficult to get one merit. Make decent posts that add something to the conversation rather than just rephrasing something someone else has already said. Also, if you're concerned about any bounties you were in that had a rank requirement, talk to your bounty manager about seeing if they will still give you credit for your work.
Finally, don't beg for or buy merits. I can understand that this is frustrating for a lot of you guys, but there's no reason to risk your account for just one merit.
And for those of us that have merits to send, please keep this in mind:
I encourage people to give merit to posts that are objectively high-quality, not just posts that you agree with.
You may not agree with everything someone says, but try to look into the effort behind the posts. It will encourage those who are at least trying to make decent posts to continue posting in the future. Spend some time in the patrol section and look for posts to give merit to.
I totally agree with these. To be honest I was a bit frustrated at first when I learn the new rules regarding Jr. Member accounts because I was affected by those mass demotion. I'm a bit disappointed because I believe that its unfair for us whose making good posts and contribution in this forum.
But then I realized that its actually a good thing because it will minimize the amount of garbage posts here in this forum. Also, I noticed that previously, in signature campaigns, most of the posts made by some participants are actually don't have any substance on it. Its like they are only posting it for the sake of stakes.
I just hope more members of this forum will understand the rationale behind this changes. Besides sacrifice is essential in able to be successful.