I just see them and move on if I don't have the sMerits to give out--so my point is that when people complain that they see really good posts that are going unmerited, they might not be lying. They're just not keeping track of them.
True. But just to be devil's advocate - suchmoon's thread has been open for several months, and is similarly barren in terms of links to good posts. You would have thought at some point in the last 4 months a handful of these users complaining about merit, of which there are many, might have remembered to post a link or two. Still, I'll continue to be on the hunt for good lower ranked members with my shiny new source allocation.
To address the other points regarding abuse, there are several ways to prevent this. Allowing it for junior members and up only seems a logical first step - if you are unable to gain a single merit yourself, then you probably aren't a good judge of what constitutes a meritable post. One report per week for juniors, with the time limit decreasing as you go up in rank. Blocked from using it if you continually suggest trash. Unable to report your own posts. Having said that, if this thread remains open for months and has minimal uptake, then I think spending time and effort on such a feature is probably a waste.