I used to keep my merits for non-legendaries.
Now only rarely do I find a merit worthy post by non-legends; let alone beginners. What has happened to the WO? Do I sound like a fading boomer if I suspect only the "old guard" is keeping this place interesting?
You must be sitting on a ton of merit

How would you possibly know?

Maybe this means you have to lower your standards and merit posts that you wouldn't merit a year ago

Treat it like an investment into those newbies.
That's what I think I'm doing. But investing requires seeing some value in your investment - or some merit, in this context - which brings me back to my musings.