Good idea with bad consequences! In my opinion it is a system of sigrigation. Those who used to be on the forum protected themselves and their earnings from the applicants. Because there is no system of independent definition of the charge MERIT. Everything is subjective and comes from those who MERIT owns them. Beginners in their circle can not get!
Old members are at advantage as per the current system but there are still opportunities for new members. Many new members have ranked up after the merit system. If you can do that your profile will look better than that of a n old member with only default merits.
Many new members posted their objection against the merit system but it is impossible to please everyone on this forum.