So here is my theory.
Newbie comes onto the forum and starts snooping around because he heard about bounties. He wants to make some cash and he wants some cash right now. He starts trying to sign up and realizes he needs to be a jr member to participate. Here comes your first influx of SPAM.
We are now a jr member. Things are looking good. You sign up for your first signature campaign. Earning time is right around the corner. A few weeks in you realize the Hero members are getting massive stakes and by the end of the campaign they will get all the rewards. You think to hell with this I'm gonna rank up. Now the SPAM really starts flying.
About a day or two into this the new user starts to realize something isn't correct. Why am I not ranking up. This is where he learns about the merit system. The new user has a bad day as he realizes he has been locked out of this game. The game has been centralized by the upper members.
The new user quits. He says fuck this noise I'm out.
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!
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?
Before the Merit system spam in the forum was already spinning out of control, and since the spammers were ranking up with all their alts at some point they would have totally fucked up the whole forum. It may be true that some new sort of spam may have been caused by the Merit system, but other sorts of spam has surely been limited. With the merit system, spammers - at least the new spammers - will be confined at the lowest ranks. Moreover, with the latest change - 1 merit requirement for being a Junior Memner - all those new spammers will never rise above the level of Newbie, which could demotivate them from continuing to spam since as a Newbie you cannot earn money with Bounty campaigns.