I am very sad about this decision. I know I am nobody and have no rights. but there is at least a little policy that can make breathing easier
You have the same rights as everyone else, that includes the right to be better.
Glad to see something has changed, 5 merits probably would have been a better choice for the rank up; but I respect the decision to balance the need for change and not creating to big a barrier for new users starting out.
I must say though that I can't believe how many of these shitposters have already received their 1 needed merit(in this thread alone). I get that everyone is entitled to send merit out as they see fit, but some need to give their head a shake. This is one of the few barriers that can actually do something to prevent the spam from continuing to get worse.
There will already be enough accounts out there merit swapping/trading/buying to get around this restriction. Some people need to realize, not rewarding the whiner looking for 1 merit is good for the forum, and the whiner if they chose to be better.