I'm generally happy with systems that help make this forum a better place by limiting spam posting, scamming, etc. I've been around for a while so am not in a position to have to earn my way up by collecting merits.

I am a bit concerned about the limited ways there are to get s-merits. It seems the merit sources and the folks who collect a lot of merit points would be the merit whales on this forum, and that over time, people wanting to rank up will post with those whales in mind, rather than simply focusing on quality. Also, there is a certain aspect of this that depends on your ability to promote yourself, not just write quality posts. I don't know if there is a way to kind of equalize that. I think it's great to reward high quality posts, but the ability to write those posts and promote them so that the right forum members may notice them are two different skill sets.