b) the amount of sMerits would be higher! A Sr. Member hast 5 sMerit by default? So basically, most of sMerits will come from Hero members and above - see my first point again.
sMerits can come from anywhere, all of the people I've merit'd (see stats below) could be sending 1/2 of them to others, including other Hero or Legendary members.
I predict almost noone will "level up" anymore and people will get frustrated. One's post could be outstanding; if there isn't any high ranked & polite member near, it remains "worthless".
The majority of people frustrated are the shitposters who thought they were going to live off the forum by posting useless content.
Regardless, I would hope a copper member would be able to get 10 merit points.
Edit: Just checked your (Ibminer's) merit page and found one Jr. Member that sent you merit. Most of them are legendaries / heros.
What are you talking about? I've been looking for lower-ranked members to post things worth merit.
It's not my fault higher ranks post better. It seems obvious you didn't review my merit page like you stated and deserve 0 merit for your post.
And, here are stats on all posts I've merit'd so far... since you made me count.
1 Newbie
5 Jr. Member
4 Member
9 Full Member
10 Sr. Member
14 Hero Member
6 Legendary
Hero + Legendary = 20
Lower Ranks = 29