What Is This Idea?
The idea is simple, reconfigure the forum, as well as the merit system, reconfigure it so that if a user does not earn atleast 1 merit in 120 days, that user drops he's current rank for the lower one, and if in another 120 days, the user still does not earn 1 merit, he or she again drops the current rank for the one lower, just like that until that user is back to newbie... This can only apply to junior Members rank and above.
Merit Score:
Merit score doesn't have to be affected, Infact, it is very important to keep the user's merit score intact so as to show that such user was once at a certain rank, but dropped due to lack of Merit to keep maintaining that rank or move higher.
As far as I guess, ranks mostly matter for the signature campaign on this forum and the problem is that spammers are spamming the forum for money. But your "solution" can make things worse and let me explain what would I do if I were a spammer, which I'm not and don't intend to be The idea is simple, reconfigure the forum, as well as the merit system, reconfigure it so that if a user does not earn atleast 1 merit in 120 days, that user drops he's current rank for the lower one, and if in another 120 days, the user still does not earn 1 merit, he or she again drops the current rank for the one lower, just like that until that user is back to newbie... This can only apply to junior Members rank and above.
Merit Score:
Merit score doesn't have to be affected, Infact, it is very important to keep the user's merit score intact so as to show that such user was once at a certain rank, but dropped due to lack of Merit to keep maintaining that rank or move higher.
1. People, who don't care about signature campaigns, may not spam this forum and probably don't care much about their rank. We both agree that people in this category aren't a problem. So, this solution doesn't improve anything for them, instead, it may push them to post more than usual to keep their rank.
2. If I am a spammer and my intention is to earn money from signature campaigns and I know that if I don't get 1 merit in 120 days means that I'm fucked, then I'll post as much as possible because higher the posts, higher the chances of getting at least on merit. I think if this is the source of money for spammers and I'm a spammer, then I'll create alternative accounts for more profit and feed, keep my ranks with each other. Even me as a spammer, I'll put an effort at least once in a year and get 1-2 merits on my accounts. Then I'll spam and spam. I know that I can't get merits because of my spam posts but I have five accounts that are five source of profit, so, lets count:
Accounts: A, B, C, D, E. Imagine I have 1-5 sendable merit on each of them and it's the time when if I don't get merits soon, my account rank will decrease, so this is what I would do:
1. Send merit from A account to B
2. Send merit from C account to E
3. Send merit from B account to D
4. Sent merit from D account to A
5. Send merit from E to A.
This lets me to continue spamming for another 120 days and the higher number of alternative accounts will make tracking hard for you because more accounts = more combinations to hide traces.