i dont think Merit can make increase quality of post in this forum because many people can gather into groups where they will send merit to each other.
If you look at the system, it is designed in a way that eventually, the merits will be i hand of deserving hands. For instance, as members spend all their existing Smerits we will rely only on merit sources. Those merit sources will reward members with useful posts (serious people). So it will get only better with time.