Its just simply unfair system which left lots and lots of people who do really try to produce quality post getting no merit while others who don't contribute anything getting merit for posting nothing more than spammy gossip message about merit.
It isn't just about 'quality'. That's a completely arbitrary measure anyway as everyone has their own opinion as to what constitutes quality. Personally, I think that making a valuable contribution to the forum deserves Merit and that can be achieved in many ways.
The system isn't unfair just because you don't share the same judgement about what deserves Merit as someone else.