I don't really consider rank when awarding merits, and I find that I often award to seniors and higher, although I haven't been as active as I should be recently. The more senior members tend to be committed to the forum, and their posts seem to rise to the top. I want to try to encourage the newer members, and perhaps save them from giving up their memberships if they become discouraged.

I hope that other merit awarders can adopt a similar approach, as I seem to be interested in the political and economic uses of Bitcoin and crypto-currencies, rather than the more technical aspects.