So I think this merit mechanism is unfair, because it would allow those legendary or heroic users to profit from the merit mechanisms, and not to upgrade those who can not afford it.
I'm definitely coming from the opposite perspective here, as being here on these forums for a while and finally reaching a high ranking. However, I don't think this system is particularly unfair. Those who have merit will not be selling it; hero and legendary members at this point in time know better than to sell their merit. Even if it is being sold, it ends up being pretty obvious because all you need to do is look at the suspects posts and who merited them.
There's nothing about affording here; merit is not a form of money. It's (I guess) just another way of protecting the forum from spammers who are just trying to get into sig campaigns.
I agree with player514. He has been in this forum longer than I have and based on what I've observed for the past months that I've been part of this forum, a lot of people here would just post for the sake of reaching their quota for a signature campaign. People would just write anything to reach the limit they are required of. I am pretty sure the high ranking members in this forum are well aware and knows better when it comes to constructive posting. So I guess you just can't simply fool them into giving you a merit just because they have the power to do so. I know they will give it to those who are deserving because I feel that they have also experienced different hardships in reaching their rank.
As per the newbie who got the merit points, maybe he does truly deserve it for he posted something constructive, cohesive, and helpful to this forum. If he is not truly deserving of it, then there may be a lot of possibilities on why he got one. If he gained it through illegal means, I'm pretty sure he will get a punishment for it sooner or later but right now what really matters is that we take this situation as an opportunity for all of us to learn and truly be helpful in this forum by being constructive.