This is really a nice suggestion but there is a downside to this. After sorting through posts merit wise, new comments will get ignored. Those posts with merits will get more visibility and may be more merits.
This is legitimate, except it wouldn't be the default view. The default view will still be whatever we have right now. So when you land on a thread, you'll see all the new posts on the last page, etc. However, if you'd like, then you can only show the Merited posts.
New comments shouldn't get ignored, since only a selected few will even bother to show all the Merited posts only. Besides, you cannot have a discussion based only on the Merited posts, so you need to see the default all posts anyway to extend the thread.
The Merited view will have a select function, e.g. if you're new to a thread and want to quickly get a 'gist' of what's going on.
Indeed! It's impossible to have a proper discussion or to learn much more than what OP says there. I've posted 2 suggestions there but it seems to be in the oblivion now (one of those does have merits).
Indeed, that was my experience in that thread too. Made a few suggestions, one or two got Merited, but got drowned out in the new flurry. One of the reasons I decided to start a new thread.