Agree, guy! Merit system and activity system are very different in its mechanism and its role in the forum.
Merit is not equivalent to activity.
yeah, getting merits is much harder than getting activity-count.
This makes it much harder for you to gain the merits you need.
Someone don't think about what they will write, what they will discuss; they only/ mainly think about whether they will receive merits for their threads or not. Consequently, most of them never earn merits. It's extremely ridiculous, ahha.
The best plan is to think before you post, and ask yourself - "would I like to see this post, and has it helped me in some way". If the answer is "no", then don't make the post. If you do make the post, then make sure it flows smoothly, and is easy to read. This means you will need to spell check it before submitting it.