I also hope that all merit sources will maintain their strict rules when giving merits away. The forum does not need a new-era shitposters who will destroy what merit system and our community built up well so far.
I think this is the challenge for the new MS (myself included).
What we saw in this round is a massive reallocation from "inactive MS" to new "active" MS.
Even if MS number was reduced and also global sMerit allowance was marginally inflated, overall, I do expect merits circulation will increase a lot.
theymos made now clear that wants all the merit allowance to be depleted, and I think the future "rebalance" of sMerits allowance will consider the amount of sMerits spent.
This pose a challenge for merit source, deplete their sMerit source monthly allowance (that should be the easy part) without promoting shitposting, or below par contributions (this is going to be the hard part).
Attaining this double objective will allow each individual MS to increase her sMerit allowance in a future revision by theymos (who made clear that some sort of adjustment will be done in the future considering the sMerits sent in the recent months), and at the same time do what a good MS should do: trying to promote good posting on the forum.