What I gather from that is that anything of value should get a merit. That's also why you may award more than 1 per post. It seems like the scarcity problem is being worked on, so let's just give it time.
That is what I expected when I first saw the merit requirements for different ranks. It makes sense. It would greatly reduce spam without making ranking up nearly impossible. I'm very skeptical of the new system now, but in case of such adjustments I may completely change my mind.