smerit is aimed at people who really deserve it, the quality of posts is not only about how many words are written but the meanings and answers that really help other questions and readers. good quality reflects itself as well and can also assess how broad the knowledge of post makers not love
I agree it is not about the long message.
It is about the meaning of your message .
Merit is given to those who have posted a very unique or informative message in the forum.
The quality of the post really matters in this but one thing I have also found as challenge to many others who wishes to post quality content is the language barrier, you know the forum is being used from different parts of the world and some countries dont speak English nor understand English for them to really participate as they wish, that is why so many times.
I have realized that some who wishes to say something which might actually be quality end up using Google translate to change their language to English, and we all know how Google language does, it may not really change it for readers to fully understand the intent of the user.