But I very much doubt that the increase in the distribution of merit in the beginners sub will have a positive effect on reducing the amount of spam.
I agree with that, and some of your subsrquent comments. However, there are two issues here. One is the reduction of spam, and this seems to be the main focus for everybody. Of course this needs to be controlled, but it may not be the major factor that will restrict the growth of the forum. I think the encouragement and development of new members is far more important, and I have noticed that a few of the spammers seem to have moved away from the darkside, and be joining the bright future for Bitcoin.
If we can start some decent discussions, and make them self-moderated to chuck out the spammers and low value posters, then perhaps we can breathe a bit of life into a couple of the heavily polluted boards.
I also want to believe that spammers can be transformed and higher rank members can accompany them on the true path. This is a very noble desire on your part. I respect you for this and am ready to support you in your endeavors. But no matter what the efforts, very many users just can`t be convinced, since they came to the forum for a completely different purpose. And they don`t need our help and mentoring, since we won`t provide them with the necessary instructions on how to spam more effectively and and won`t explain the requirements for writing absurd and stupid posts to them.
We have different goals and, accordingly, different paths. You can "lure" to the bright side only those who hesitate and doubt the correctness of their actions, but you won`t be able to influence those who don`t care about the rules and the general situation in the forum, who cares only to earn tokens, who only sees this "goal", and doesn`t pay attention to the "obstacles" from the conscious cohort of the bitcointalk site. That`s why I consider it necessary to introduce restrictions, which I mentioned above. Your idea has the full right to exist, I totally support it. But it should be implemented in parallel with the tightening of general rules so that our actions to eliminate spam are much more effective.