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.
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That's how the forum works, contribute good content = get Merit, keep shitposting = no rewards for you here. In addition, I think at least a good part of content wouldn't be here if we had no Merit.
Activity is a rather meaningless metric since it can be abused by one-liner shitposts. There are tons of pre-Merit era "Legendaries" still posting "Nice project, Sir! Great team and idea. I see a very great potential in your project, SIR"
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I think you are mixing up 'contribute good content' with 'form a circle-jerk with a clique of sad-ass wankers.' I didn't realize until oldovlobo's comment that high 'merit' nets you footer-spammers extra $$$ on your wares. That makes participation in mutual merit-pumping schemes even more pathetic.