Sure, it is possible that he could receive some merits on the local boards, too, but the way the system is now, seems to be biased in favor of making good English posts, as you recognize. I doubt that is going to change any time soon, but hey, it is possible that Theymos will attempt to ensure that there are some merit sources who are participating in some of the local boards - to the extent that Theymos may be able recognize members who may be good in that regard or highly recommended by a trusted member to be good to become a merit source.
More sources can and will have to be added over time and this includes local board merit sources as quality posters in those languages will suffer, but the merit system is only a month old and will have some growing pains for a while but is probably nothing that can't be fixed.
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Someone created a thread about a merit ponzi that made me laugh:
If you feel this merit system is as dumb as it sounds, then you got my merit. Make a comment, +1 merit. Upvote the last comment, and hopefully the next comment will do the same. Maybe then you can rank up in this forum and actually be noticed. Its gonna take double the time and effort, but if your already posting here, then you know that.