I get it, believe me.  There was no good tool to combat shitposters back before January 2018 when the merit system was implemented, so I and actmyname were using the trust system as a tool to fight them.  It was not a good use of the trust system and I knew that, but I was so frustrated at how bad the situation had gotten that I felt I had to use the only tool available.

As far as the irreversible nature of merits and needing to think long and hard before leaving them....I don't think it's that big a deal.  Merits are just a "like", except that they carry a lot more weight because many members need them to rank up, and they're somewhat of a status symbol here.  But IMO it's not that big of a deal if merits occasionally are given out for questionable or controversial posts, hence why I think it's wrong to neg someone for a merit they gave out (unless it's an obvious case of abuse). 

Anyway teeGUMES, no hard feelings from my end and I apologize for reacting the way I did.  I should have given the situation a lot more thought before acting.