I hope everybody would be fair about this new feature implemented by admin theymos.
This thread is for the purpose of awareness that merit is given to a constructive and quality post. I have made a thread here in the market place section, hoping that there will not be such things like buying and selling merits. Let's work with our own asses.
P.S.
OP is not asking attention, read and understand. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
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EDIT UPDATEFor those who wants to receive merits for quality post. Check this thread, Challenging and Helpful.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3048258.0Yes, I think people could do such a business like this, it may seem that they have already budget the circumstances but we do know people get mad if they have only small amounts of ranks. I think people do this because of ranks to get high payouts or stakes, and people get merits by selling or buying merits to their colleagues.
If there is a profit to be made, people will exploit every system.
The idea behind merit is nice (I've read the whole post from the admin), and it makes sense. But long as you can simply contact somebody and "buy" merit in order to get what you want... it's kind of a flawed system.
But again, we're not all the same

Not everybody is after a shiny signature or lesser chat limitations.