,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?
I think NeuroticFish has said all that there is to know about the history of the merit system, but to add to what he said, and also in reference to the quote above..
I did like you, @op to know that merit isn't a coin, neither is it a token, it's not like bitcoin or eth, like NeuroticFish said, they are just numbers created out of thin air.
When the merit system was introduced, I was a senior member then though I left the forum for several years, I was airdropped 250 merits which is amount required in other to become a senior member, now I can't remember how many sendable merit I got then, but I don't think it was many.
Merit was introduced by theymos as a way to encourage users to create more quality posts and less spam, and as we can all see, this has been a success for the forum and its users.