Yes I really agree that MERIT requirements makes the life of all the low ranking members of this forum very difficult and it is a big DISCRIMINATION for low ranking members like us, MERIT REQUIREMENT is just being imposed for the benefits of those high ranking members such as those FEW LEGENDARY MEMBERS who don't want LOW RANKING MEMBERS to be promoted to a much higher rank, they don't want members on this FORUM earn HIGHER PAYMENT just like they do they just want to keep it by themselves! So for me all I can say is that this MERIT requirements is just being made for the benefits of the high ranking members only.
Let me break your misconceptions one by one:
1) You mentioned that high rank members had imposed the merit system. Reality is that the admin made this decision.
2) There is no discrimination with any member. I saw that the admin made a thread before implementing the merit system asking for suggestions from all members regarding how to remove spam from the forum. What more do you want ? I think less than 40-50 members responded there and you were not one of them.
3) These threads complaining about the merit system are allowed here (unlike lot of other forums) and he even made some changes to the merit system.