Do you think this competition is fair?
With what I observed, it is going on good.
Tell me please who those noname users generously receiving merits?
I think it's partially caused by notification bots: posting a list of usernames means some of them get notified. If they get notified, they see the post. If they see the post, it increases the chance of getting Merited.
As a Merit source, 1 sMerit more or less is a drop in a bucket.
Yes, people voted for are getting notified. But Ratimov is giving everyone which is good idea of merit giveaway