It's sad to see some ANN threads on the list. Most people are abusing merits on ANN threads. Anyway, Wall Observer proved that high-quality posts can get enough merit.
If we go through each ANN thread which got most merit, the scenario will be this kind and most of those are really abusing the system.
As always, I really appreciate your effort @LoyceV. BTW, the thread is quite long and I feel boring to have a look. Can you please split it or organize into code?
#Update
Satoshi's topic also sadly not the highest either 
I think you are getting quite emotional here. I have respect for the man and I believe everyone does so. That doesn't mean this thread need to achieve the most merits. Yes, this thread must have a place on the history of cryptocurrency forever but it has less to do with the merit if you consider merit as theymos defined. I encourage people to give merit to posts that are objectively high-quality, not just posts that you agree with.
122. 137 Merit received in topic 2358637
On this topic, OP, Steepdev received a total of 60 merits where 50 merits from mellon and 10 from darkzorgerIf we go through each ANN thread which got most merit, the scenario will be this kind and most of those are really abusing the system.
As always, I really appreciate your effort @LoyceV. BTW, the thread is quite long and I feel boring to have a look. Can you please split it or organize into code?
#Update
He did build bitcoin core and the forum for which now bitcoin is mosty discussed. If that's not a high quality thing to do then what are we doing here.
I think I have less understanding about merits. So, I gave up it here. Will do some more study on it.