It would be nice if we can get a merit menu like "Last merit post" and"Top merited posts for last 24h" for every section and subsection. So everyone can check the top merited posts in off-topic section for example, then you have more control on how merit is distributed. I know that we have already top and last merited posts in the whole forum but I think it won't be a bad idea to have control on the local sections also.
Just an idea