Got you. I do understand the point, just one addition. This forum is for a long time not only about Bitcoin. It has become the sanctuary for all of the cryptocurrency discussions.
It's worth noting that altcoin forums like cryptocurrencytalk.com are practically deserted and everyone chooses to come to the Bitcoin Forum. Not because it is a sanctuary, but because they can get paid to post here.
I also do understand, that the quality measurement is subjective as someone might find even single line post worth meriting. The thing is, people love the sense of progression. That is also one of the reasons to have ranking system (sure, the additional features are there too). And as i understood, ranking only based on activity was too easy to misuse (leading to spam etc.). But the Merit system might still prove to be too difficult sometimes, hindering the progression too much. On the other hand, the lower ranks actually do not limit the use of the forum...
I really don't think it is too difficult to rank up for people that use the forum for what it is intended for. It certainly is difficult for people that came here to earn money from posting about something they're really not interested in. It may slow the process down for some well intentioned people but I don't see that as a problem. Over time it will just make the ranks a little more meaningful.
Here's some numbers to illustrate my point.
2,044,505 accounts.
850,000 active accounts (
estimated before this was hacked).
13,807 accounts received 1 or more merit (
source).
Of that 13,807 I would estimate maybe half would be here if they weren't being paid and almost all of them would have no problem ranking up.