This maybe a noob or complicated question and apologize in advance if this may find you a dumb question to ask but i just want to know the history of how the Merit spread in the forum.

Firstly, we know that Satoshi Nakamoto founded this Bitcointalk forum way back November 22, 2009 to be exact and his key people are Martti Malmi & Theymos. Source : https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitcoinTalk

Secondly, in relation to the title of the topic, I was told that Merit system was introduced by Theymos and my first thought then was, did Theymos hold thousand of Merit when the merit system was implemented and distributed it to the pioneer of this forum? or is he have a merit source key people to do the job? or when the merit system implemented all of the users that time got rewarded some automatically?

Thirdly, If this post may find insult to the pioneer of this forum, I apologize. Be know that my intention was to know the history of how merit spread first to the community because i find it brilliant steps and motivational as keystone to uphold this forum from spammer.

Lastly, I thank the key people who made this message board where people can talk to each other and sharing ideas. Thank you in advance for enlightening me.