16,224 sMerit is held by autobanned users (including the initial sMerit).
I believe those account are ban they are also merit abuser. Especially newbie and Jr. Members. Because a quality poster shouldn't ban. Those are baned obviously they are connected with corruption somehow. So it's not bad corrupted and abuser got ban. Never mind few merit are decay, they didn't used their smerit on good post. Here is merit source to recover it. I think smerit limit should increase for merit source.
Not all banned accounts are merit abusers. Not all newbie and Jr.Members abused Merits. it is clearly stated that members should abide by the rules and regulation of the forum in other earn Merits. yes, Every New member in the forum aims to get merited from posts or comments either by hard-work or by crook which leads to ban if discovered.
A friend got Banned for making inquires of his previous Banned account.
the Forum administrator can derived a means to retrieve sMerits from accounts BEFORE BANNING. my opinion to reduce Merit lost.