No, it isn't that at all.  This whole thing was designed by the owner of the forum, as far as I know, and it's hitting noob shitposters right in their greedy fucking wallets--and I love it.  The more I recovery from my flu and the more lucid I get, the more I'm starting to really like the merit system. 

You all know I don't suffer shitposters lightly, but I'm more than happy to give out some merit points to noobies if they make a good post, and I'm making it a point to do this when I see decent posts.  What I will never give merit points for are those generic "bitcoin is a digital currency that change my life...." shitposts that I've seen all too often.  If the merit system does absolutely nothing else, I think it'll eliminate those.  I'm hoping, anyway.

The reason I'm smiling along with TMAN is that I don't have to neg the shitposters anymore.  I was never comfortable with using the trust system to do that, but as hilariousandco pointed out, it was one of the only weapons we had.  I'm happy these days.