What happens if a merit source stops meriting posts? Are they booted out? Because i feel as a merit source it is a duty to you to merit posts, if you are a member that is not a merit source then that is different, you might not give out any merits and it would not be a problem, only that members may not merit you too as you are not involved in the system, but as a merit source deciding to stop meriting posts sounds like 'quiting your job'.
It's not a job. We are not paid for it nor do we receive any special treatment. It's a service that people offer for free. For some it's time consuming, for others not so much.
only that members may not merit you too as you are not involved in the system, but as a merit source decision to stop meriting posts sounds like 'quiting your job'.
This is the most stupid thing that Merit Source or any other participant can do, not give out Merit simply because someone else does not give it out either. The merit system is not barter on the basis of you to me, I to you.
I have to partially agree with Z-tight here. I refuse to merit people who have received plenty of merits but never given any to other Bitcointalk members. I know that many don't agree with that way of doing things, but that's my decision. You are right that merits is not about giving it back to the people who gave them to you. But I always check if the post I am about to merit belongs to someone who is part of the group that merits other posts (regardless of the receiver). If I see something like 200 received merits and 1 sent merits, rest assured that I am not going to throw my merits in that pit. Merits are supposed to circulate between accounts. There are people who refuse to be part of that system and that's fine. But if you don't want to play, don't get angry with me for not passing you the ball. I would rather pass it to someone with more team spirit. The only exception are new users who have just begun receiving merits and people who absolutely don't care about them and have merit-worthy posts.