I have realized that with the advent of new merit system, most of the established members are hoarding Smerits. I have also came across various posts on other forums in which they are selling merits. IMHO all this is leading to the over all quality decay of this prestigious forum, various new members are migrating to other forums where it is much more easier to rank up. Existing lower rank members are also feeling 'hit the wall' kind of situation and not putting enough efforts in their posts. There has to be some way to address this issue. IMHO merit system was not at all needed in the very first place because we have trust system already. But since we have adopted this system I urge all established members of this forum ( who have say in the matter) to look for possible solutions for speeding up the "merit giving system", or look for the alternatives.
One solution from my side is we can modify the merit system by making Smerits in the multiple of 5, So that the minimum merits one can give and receive is 5 from single user. This will lead to the change in minimum numbers of merit requires for jr member and members but I am sure that will speed up the much needed change.