Merit system is a good idea in theory, but I think it needs some tweaking to make it work effectively. The number of sources probably needs to be greatly adjusted and maybe the merit requirements lowered for certain ranks, but maybe that will open up the system to abuse. I see lots of posts that I'd like to merit but I just run out of merit within minutes. I don't really need merit as there's no difference to me between Hero and Legendary, though I;d like to get there eventually, but despite my posts being pretty good [in my opinion] and much better than average I've received very few merit. I was very surprised to wake up this morning to see one post received 7 though, but at this rate it will probably take me years to get enough to be Legendary. A lower ranked user making okay or average posts probably has no chance or will take them years to get to a fairly high rank. I guess it's bout finding a balance between it being an effective system that minimizes abuse but also allowing people to realistically achieve ranks.