honestly, this makes me very sad, even if i understand why this merit system is implemented for.
i am like 3-4 weeks away from my sr.member rank and this fucks me really up

i'm sad, angry and shocked together X_x". now i have to collect like 150 merits in a short time but how Oo", i dont think that people will freely start to like everything i post... since humans are not generous, infact, they can be very harsh to others, being anonymous on the internet...
Although i agree with the merit system, i also agree with you.
What if the system can give merits by some sort of algorithm? Or the moderators give them to people who deserved them? If it's their job to look out for the sections of the forum to check if everything is alright, which means they have to read everything (in theory), they could also give merit to those who are working for the community.
I'm also running for Full Member, not for the money per se, but for airdrops and others alike, and to think that i need 90 merits to achieve that... wow.
Again, im in favor, but i see tons of members/users to quit because the effort does not pay.
PS - Also, it will not prevent the creation os new accounts to flood the system with announcements. It will only drop the number os stupid posts.