The list is heavily weighted to make merit much more valuable than it is and not give credit to contributions made prior to the merit system's introduction.  That's why you see relatively new members without meaningful contributions but tons of merit ranked so highly (not directed at you), while users with household names like Gavin Andresen who have been influential in the community since before any of us heard of Bitcoin are considered unrecognizable per their rank.  No system is perfect and I'm sure there will be adjustments down the line as Vod's site is still very new and he has been actively developing it.