I don't know why but for some reason when merits first appeared I thought they "recharged" after a given amount of time, so I gave out merits for posts that made me laugh, were topical or hard hitting. I even went back and gave merits for older posts that I still recalled months/years later. Above all when giving out merits I only ever gave out one merit per post; I think it's absurd to give out ten, twenty... fifty merits for a post. (Selfish really) Alas, no recharge and the jar is now empty.  If I come across any I feel are worthy I'll seek-out this thread (this is my way of posting so I can follow the thread)...

...but I think I'm going to be a little selective in which posts I choose to nominate.