I understand. What put me so mad was to see the way some more higher ranked members were celebrating like if they were avoiding some kind of deadly disease that new members could spread. And always keep saying what new members should or shouldn´t do to earn merits when almost all the merits that were earned on this forum were gained with the old rules (with no real "merit", probably, in most of the situations). And some other more specific things that I will share with Jay in DM.
I can't claim to speak for all high ranked members but generally the new rule does not benefit or otherwise affect such members specifically. It affects the forum as a whole by (hopefully) reducing signature spam. It helps genuine non-spamming non-botting newbies as they will have an easier way to gain an advantage over spammers.
Your claim about airdrop merits being not "real" is unsubstantiated to say the least, and it doesn't have anything to do the validity of the advice on how to earn merits. It stands to reason that older members, particularly ones who have sMerits to send, might have some valid observations on that subject.