No shit; it's definitely not the way it used to be.  I haven't read this thread in full (yet), but IIRC before Theymos made the rotating system change, a member needed two DT1 inclusions in order to be on DT2--and even then, if some other DT1 member(s) decided to exclude you, off DT2 you went. 

I say all of that because that's exactly what happened to me at some point in 2018, right around the time the merit system came out.  Blazed and Hilariousandco included me on their trust lists, but OgNasty and Tomatocage subsequently excluded me.  T'was a very strange period indeed.

I voted for two inclusions, but seeing as how there are so many DT2 members the standards really ought to be higher.  People might forget that even being on DT2 brings with it a lot of power with respect to the weight of your feedback and to a lesser extent whether people will automatically trust you when doing a deal.  It's not a trivial matter--not then, not now.