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.
I don't see the point of posting the exact same content multiple times on different threads (i.e.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3464219.msg36033923#msg36033923 and
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3006322.msg36034044#msg36034044).
While you're opinion is obviously yours and isn't going to change in a 10 minute timeframe, the topic threads are not exactly about the same and we should be able to adopt out vision accordingly.
No, receiving sMerits is not easy at all, and can be rather frustrating often for many. Even so, the idea is to try to shine and that requires effort and persistence. The way I see it, persist or cave in.