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Op, is there a rule in the pizza contest that merits shouldn't be given in the thread just like that of the community award. If there is no such rule, 5tift might not be doing anything wrong.
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so i actually don't find such a rule (whether it is in the discussion thread or in the voting thread) that says that it is not allowed to distribute your merits during the voting in order to ‘maybe’ hope for a higher chance of a better placement
even though i know and appreciate 5tift very well, he doesn't need to do this with his very successful pizza

Maybe yes.. but user's Sent Merits history resemble more to a pizzeria
here !!
https://talkimg.com/images/2025/06/21/UutijC.jpegAnd according to the following this is an clear infraction :
Throughout
June, public voting will be open, and any active user can participate.
Please note that any contest entrant is not allowed to agitate for their pizza or veiledly ask anyone to vote for you. For the voting system to work, any nominated pizza must have the support of at least three users. This year,
144 users took part in the contest,
2 of which were excluded from the voting for various reasons.
(OT)
Is the user Merit-source ??
Something should be done against some sources.. for exemple some are wittingly using their allowance to promote activity on some Commercial ANN threads .... !