The introduction of merit system to Bitcointalk is a great idea aimed to reduce spamming and low quality contributions. But I believe that it should be implemented in a way that also favors newbies in ranking up. Some members are engaged in merit racketeering or trading, and that may make it harder for low ranked members to rank up as they do not belong to this "special group".
I totally subscribe to your views about current merit system which has made difficult for new comers to rank up as people give merits based on personnel liking or groups of people share merits among them and quality of posts is not the only criteria to get merit which was the core purpose introducing merit system.