The merit system still exist, and more of us were accept the reality on merit system. Although it has provide good resistance to the level of quality post, but I don't think how merit really important, maybe merit only used for the purpose of some people using multiple accounts users. In total ratings, merit still good to be used as a rule in order to have good balancing system in the forum.
The merit system is one of the best updates here on bitcointalk as of now. People used to be able to spam their way up the ladder easily; they could even reach Hero Member status without even knowing much. This significantly lower the amount of spammers that could join campaigns, which is very very good in my opinion.