It's not really that epic an achievement to get that many merits and you can manage it without being a particularly stunning or established member. I think it would be better kept for the proper OGs. There'll always have to be a cut off somewhere and opening it up to people who might have only been here for a year or less doesn't make much sense.
The only reason I used merit as a determining criteria is because that's one way of determining someone being a little contributive at least towards the forum, don't you think?
I mean there could always be different types of coins for different cafeterias: Bronze coin for contributive posting, Silver for having a considerable amount of reports, and gold for being a DT member/for those helping the forum fighting the fight against the scammers, and a diamond for OG users. It shouldn't have to be necessarily like this, but you get my idea, right?
Although, I'd love to offer this to as many users as possible it starts to lose its sentimental value as soon as we start increasing the amounts of coins. In my opinion, and I know there's going to be a difference of an opinion on this matter, but only those that have contributed greatly to the forum or are of historic value to the forum should be eligible.
If I can make this work then I'd be more than willing to organize other significant dates such as 20th anniversary. This could be an ongoing thing, and therefore an encouragement to the newer users who might not be eligible yet.
Fair enough, I somewhat agree with your points, but all of this would be pretty damn useless if there's no official word.
The satoshi quote idea is a good one, and hopefully if it comes to the community designing it some users will keep that in mind. I've just got to find a manufacturer which is open to the idea. Unfortunately, I don't have the pulling power of theymos to begin with, and the fact that its starting off as an unofficial project I feel has been an issue, because the only criteria I can give to them is if its good enough theymos might bless it as official.
I've already come to terms with the fact that this isn't going to be readily available for the anniversary, but if we can get it announced, and development started that's something. I've had some users come to me with some good ideas, and some with a little advice. All I need is to find a manufacturer which has the same passion for the forum as myself, and other users who care for the community.
Also, I think its worth mentioning that I'm not just going to go with someone just because they are up for it. I want quality, and I want to incorporate as much as the communities input into the coin as possible, and the right person for this will support that. I wished I opened this thread a little after theymos' initial idea proposal.
According to BPIP Bitcointalk.org currently has 132,815 users which are active (logged in within 3 months). Over half of them probably fall into these groups: Registered this year, red trust, bounty hunters, lurkers, and non English users. Although, ideally I don't want to limit this to those who speak only English so it might be worth contacting moderators of the local section to see if there's anyone eligible. Apart from that most of the users will not be eligible for this coin. We want this coin to be something which is sought after, and to reward the highest contributing users as well as some historic users of the forum.
I feel like 500 coins would probably be the sweet point in terms of not too rare, and not just handing them out. Although, I haven't done enough research yet to see how many users would be eligible compared to my criteria. Manufacturers might be more willing to make higher quantity coins obviously too.
If you're having a hard time figuring out on who to give out these coins, just give it out to people sorted by bpip's most recognized. That'd help a lot to be honest, when it comes to the screening process.