Somebody is in deep trouble here. I can't even imagine how hard it would be for somebody having a Hero rank to loose his profile as well as reputation, the latter is most important.
I am strictly against merit abuse and I don't think people should take it for a joke. The think Taki did is wrong and I know bitcointalk never forgives anybody for breaking any of it's rules regardless of the rank.
This is the reason why every merit I give to others is damn precious to me. To be honest, I still have most of the airdropped merits and I will only merit to posts which are truly deserving though it takes time.
Besides that, I have never merited a post more than a single merit because I think meriting a post is like highlighting a quality post and even a single merit can do that task.
Why to waste multiple merits for a single post ? I feel sorry for Taki because if I were in his place it would be very hard for me.