So here is my theory.
Here comes your first influx of SPAM.
Now the SPAM really starts flying.
Somebody started with spam, think of more spam for ranking up. Will continue spam even after ranking up.
A day later he realizes why he came here in the first place. He needs damn money. So the light bulb goes off. Well if a hero member gets 8 stake and a jr member gets 1 there is only one thing left to do if I'm to make it as a bounty hunter. Multiple accounts!
After becoming Hero Member, he realized , how much money he will get if he has multiple hero member , so he started farming more accounts.
We probably have hundreds of people spamming the hell out of this board with multiple accounts and the merit system does nothing to stop the spam and it may actually cause more of it.
Unintended consequences?
What do you guys think?
In turn it made sure that spammer do not rank up and for some it become motivation to stop spamming and try to rank up.