what is the actual aim of making the merit system very hard for users? This will scare some away and those who are not good at writing, it means they don't belong here?
<>
The forum is now difficult not only for newbies but for investors who came as newbies and left because they couldn't understand the forum better. I like this section "beginners and guide" but I didn't discover it as a newbie.
<>
I will say that this forum is easy if you have worked hard on it and it's part of you, But very difficult for freshers because of how old members treat them with merit.
The merit system changed one thing!
You can't farm high-rank accounts based only on activity, this, and only this.
You don't need to be legendary, you don't need 500 merits to write on the forum, and you don't even need an account to READ.
The number of visitors dropped because there were no more "bounties" no more earning twice the average wage in your country by posting links. That's all.
The moment you stop paying people for posting, traffic drops, it's normal.
Take a guess which site this is, also crypto-related and with no merit system:

What the merit system has done is actually clearing a lot of shitposting, a lot of useless answers, and made it a place far better for real newbies.