How are "mutual merit transactions" weighed in this model, such that they would appear as isolated satellites? For instance, Coin++ and CarlOrff appear completely isolated. But if you look at CarlOrff's merit summary, he has sent merit to/received merit from other people besides Coin++ (albeit less).
Deteriorating the sMerit of those who are refusing to send them would be a good way to increase merit distribution.
How? That will just decrease the available supply of sMerit. Unless you're talking about redistributing their sMerit to other people?
Personally, I give away most of my sMerit, but I always try to retain some in case I find a really noteworthy post. I've been receiving less and less merit, which means I've been spending less and less.