I fully understood your point of view, Lucius, as I read your previous posts and I share most of your thoughts.
I am personally glad that there are people on this forum who are not afraid to say what they really think, regardless of the fact that it may concern some who think that they are some kind of gods of the forum and that some special rules apply to them.
I am glad my idea has fans and, as I see, you and icopress are two of them. However, if the contest is kept on Ivory Tower board and if it will have a rule to disqualify any user which would award votes, then there would not be necessarily needed to disable merits in the respective thread. If any merit occurs, the respective user is disqualified and, I think, this will be more harsh for him / her.
Your idea is good because it does not require intervention by the admin, but since there will be those who will not read the rules and will make this fatal mistake (maybe accidentally) and thus be disqualified, it would certainly be better to merits be completely disabled in that thread. Either way, some of it would be desirable to apply.
What is really incomprehensible to me is that someone is pressuring to publish the final results, and does not show even the slightest empathy for a person who is fighting with his family for life in a country attacked by his compatriots. I hope he gets his reward as soon as possible and stops whining in this thread.
I wonder if prizes will be awarded to the winners of the last contest?
This competition has already been going on for more than a month and a half and has not yet been completed. And with the second round, how long do you plan to hold it? For 2-3 months?