- Are merits actually being circulated between those who really need deserve it?
Yes, they are, eventually. I am and a lot of other members are examples of that.
What I personally do is that I don't see the ranks or the need of the poster while handing out Merits. What I see is the post itself, and the history of the poster in some cases when the poster is relatively new to my eyes and has a lot of posts but no Merits yet. Probably If I was a Merit Source or something , who uses to have too many sMerits to hand out, I might had other thoughts, but for now, that is what I do, and I think what I'm doing has nothing wrong with it. Correct me if I'm wrong about that.
- Are they also helping out others through their sMerits?
Yes again. Maybe not everyone out there, but for the majority if I speak, they are.
most people don't use their merits by not sharing them with those who deserve them.
From what I've experienced so far, I think 'most' isn't the correct word here, but 'some' is the word I would personally use in that statement if I were to say it, since there aren't a lot of people (I'm not counting Merit abusers and farmers in this) who would keep their sMerits to themselves rather than giving them out for the posts that deserve Merits. If that was really the case, I doubt if any of the good posters who have ranked up by earning Merits could have possibly done it.
Reason?!
Just to stop others from being promoted to higher ranks so as to reduce competition and keep it low (with the fear of losing their own position in that campaign as few may not be confident enough of their capabilities of remaining in the same), they try their best not to share their merits ahead.
That is a new one for me. I could never think like that, nor I've ever thought that someone could have a mindset like that.