Yes- it was useful. If you read JetCash's reply why he merited it you will realize that it provided insight.
You will notice that the person who received the merit communicated to Jetcash.
He didn't post some drivel that he though
might get merit. Or claim that merit means nothing to them but post primarily in topics about merit.
Because of the new merit requirement introduction the merit sources and senior members that have merit have been looking for reasons to
give merit to genuine forum users. People who want to talk
to others and not talk
at others.
If you are the type of user that is likely to be a signature spammer or bounty hunter then getting merit will probably be hard.
According to your own statement then merit should be flying' off the shelf then to a lot of users in all reality. This new rule is (imo) great it will keep users from farming. but there is a lot of senior members are likely to give out merit when its communications that isn't growing the community