Higher ranking users kept saying we should shut up and stop ranting about the merit system but they did not experience it in the first place. Sure, having a merit system may reflect on the capability of a user to create useful posts, but how about the responsibility of those who own sMerit? Who has the eagerness to read replies in a thread and give merit? It's actually too hard and a matter of luck. No matter how you construct posts, if no one who has sMerit will recognize it, you can't get one.
Well, thats the part of struggle in getting merits here and we need to accept that, not everyone will give you merit no matter how good your post would be. You dont need to blame the system if you really care about what you write or read in this forum. Why would you need those merits and care about ranking if your primary purpose in using the forum is to learn and share for everyone.