Quote from: The Pharmacist on September 22, 2019, 09:11:31 PM

I do like the SMF software, though! As far as the donations and what you call bounty, that's not for me to question since it doesn't represent any of my money and I don't have a clue what the forum does with that money. There's got to be something in development, eh?

I do like the current forum, at least its user interface, that is simple and neat.
I visited and created account on the Epochtalk-based forum: www.cryptos-currencies, but I don't like it too much, honestly. Of course I don't dig deeper and try to use modify options, but default ones are not simple and neat as the forum we have used for years, that I am familiar with and fall in love.
There are at least two trial forums that use Epochtalk's source codes, please read (if you have interests). The one above and the rest one comes from Cryptios team.

For OP,
Merit system has two phase:

Initial one: Merit & new rank requirements
Enhanced one: Enhanced newbie restrictions & requirements

For their one year anniversary and their effects, please read:

There are likely more changes to come, with lots of things in to-do list of theymos.

There are more significant changes:

Plagiabot that caused wave of permanent bans (the community-built bot indirectly triggered massive bans) *
Second chances for permanent banned users with higher power for global moderators

* Forgot to mention about it in original post, thanks @joniboini.