Question about merits

Yenie Antagar

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Is there any reason why there's no "merit of all merits" type of merit for people that have earned those five golden badges?

While I'm sure there's a list somewhere, it would be nice to have a different type of badge for those who unlocked this, maybe with the tar valon colours on the spikes around the badge and gold in the middle instead of the other way round and it would also save me the effort of having to count stuff in profiles and trying to make sense of which badges count and which ones doesn't... I'm easily confused, and I can't count. :look:

So is this something that could be introduced at some point maybe? Or is there some reason it hasn't been made a thing already? :look:
 

Ilverin Matriam

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I'm sorry, I don't really understand what you mean, Yenie. What have people unlocked when they've collected "those five golden badges"?

Maybe you're talking about the earned priviledges? Like an extra bond or events discount? In that case, you've earned a priviledge, you haven't earned a new merit, so it doesn't make sense for that to be a badge of it's own in my opinion. It could however be included in people's profiles somehow, sure :D And if anyone has questions about if they have earned any of those priviledges, feel free to email me at library@tarvalon.net or Toral at archivist@tarvalon.net.

Let me know if I misunderstood you, Yenie, and maybe @Toral Delvar will answer you much better than I can.
 

Yenie Antagar

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Yes, that's what I meant, sorry if I mixed up terms a bit.... but why is it not a badge showing you've earned it?

I don't really see any difference between a badge showing you've been a member for X amount of years and having earned priveledges for discounts and extra bond...? In fact, it should be more worthy of being a badge and being a visible thing than something that doesn't technically do anything?
 

Ilverin Matriam

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Sure, I get your point, like I said having something visual on your profile is possible, be it a badge or something else. But I don't know if it should be made into a merit of its own. After all, you've already done the contribution and earned the merits (the badges for which are on your profile already) which then earns you the priviledges. I hope that makes sense :scratch
 

Yenie Antagar

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Mmm but if you compare it to earning achievements or something in a video game you usually get these meta achievements that show everyone you've done all of the things leading up to earning it.
If the point with the merits is to earn something, there should be some way celebrate that with a meta badge showing you actually reached the end goal, sort of!

I just want a nice little thing to make it easy to see who has earned it as well as a neat little list of names, so in the end if there are better ideas of doing this, then I'm all good! Just wanted to ask why there's nothing visible for it... :)
 

Toral Delvar

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We haven't considered a badge, but we are reviewing all the merits awarded, and I have thought about whether we should include an "extra bond earned" column on the "Merits awarded by member" and even individual pages
 
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We haven't considered a badge, but we are reviewing all the merits awarded, and I have thought about whether we should include an "extra bond earned" column on the "Merits awarded by member" and even individual pages
I've always thought this would be nice information to know. I've always wondered how many people have actually earned those rewards, so just call it curiosity on my part. :P
 

Lyndo Shiranui

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I agree with Yenie Sedai and Elia Sedai. A special badge would be better than showing it in other ways.
 

Sela Narian

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I saw this section added to the library and I really like it!

Question: What if we have 10+ extra gold merits? Do we get two extra bonds instead of just one? I feel like that's fair as it goes way beyond normal involvement.

(This is a biased question because I qualify for it.)
 

Ilverin Matriam

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Question: What if we have 10+ extra gold merits? Do we get two extra bonds instead of just one? I feel like that's fair as it goes way beyond normal involvement.

No, according to the current rules, a person may get only ONE extra bond above the ones they already have (depending on their membership group).
 

Morrighan Daghdera

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@Ilverin Matriam Out of idle curiosity, do we know how many people, like Sela, have 10+ gold merits? Totally fine if we don’t track them like that. Just wondering how many long-standing members may potentially be in the same situation.
 

Sela Narian

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No, according to the current rules, a person may get only ONE extra bond above the ones they already have (depending on their membership group).

Thanks, Ilverin. That's unfortunate. Who can we talk to about proposing a change in this policy?

Changing it harms no one, it affects maybe 1% of users (maybe 2-3% of active users), it's super difficult to attain and takes over a decade of active membership usually (I have seventeen years myself), it's free, and it spreads joy and recognizes the strong connection of members on our site. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. :)

It's not for people with 10 but instead 12 or 13+ (not too clear on the rules) because I believe the membership golds don't count toward it. Though I think senior membership golds beyond the first do count.

You can see the names on this list and filter by Golds column, descending:

https://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Total_Merits_Awarded_(by_Member)
 
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Ilverin Matriam

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@Ilverin Matriam Out of idle curiosity, do we know how many people, like Sela, have 10+ gold merits? Totally fine if we don’t track them like that. Just wondering how many long-standing members may potentially be in the same situation.
We do not actively track this as far as I know, we only track for the one extra bond priviledge, since this what we have needed so far.

I agree with you Sela, that it's not many members, I will check however just to support my words.
And yes, Gold Senior Memberships more than one counts, Membership Golds do not count.
I believe @Toral Delvar might have more info if this has been discussed in the past and if there is need to discuss again.
 
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Katherine Avery

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As a person who has been active in this community for almost 17 years, even I don't have enough to reach the +1.

At some point we need to look at this community and say, if it is only applicable to 5 people is it really worth it?
Th Merit Gap and Wealth Gap are starting to look eerily similar.
 

Ilverin Matriam

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After a quick search and if we assume, based on the current rules, that two extra bond slots require 2 Senior Membership merits + 8 other golds, then it is close to 20 members who might earn it if it becomes an available priviledge based on gold merits.
 

Katherine Avery

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out of how many members total?
 
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Currently over 820 members have been awarded some type of merit, being that silver or gold.
Around 750 of them have at least one gold merit, the rest have only silvers.
Unrelated to the current discussion: Out of curiosity, how many members do we officially have on record?
 
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