Who gives two fucks about 'merit'?  It's an obviously gamed-by-losers shit-show (and you guys in the 'merit cycling club' are a poster-children for the phenomenon.)  An 8000 'merit score' tells at a glance who the 'social media influencers' are.  Don't need to even read the posts because it is entirely predictable what social media inflencers are going to say.  Also the attitude of 'Ban!', 'Delete!', 'Cancel!' fits the mold perfectly.

A 'activity score' (and decade of posting history) tend to be a lot more meaningful.  To me at least.