I know what you feel and I got your point also. It's not bad to stand on the opposition side of Merit System and it's not also bad to defend what you are believing in as long as you do it in a good manner (actually you did), the only problem is that I see loopholes in suggestion.

First of all, I think implementing your suggestion would be a bad Idea because it works the same as the Activity system does. Nothing changed! Shitposters are not threatened at all after knowing the fact that they still rank up in due time even they continue their bad habits. Second, lots of smerits can easily be given into not deserving accounts since earning merit points will not be a problem. Lastly, maintaining the quality of this forum is greatly affected because of the bad posters and spammers who are motivated by the suggested system.

Let's give Merit System a chance to prove its worth. Let's support and patiently wait for its results.