Just like I have said before, merit system has been the reason we have quality posts on this forum. If merit system was not introduced, this forum would be a place of trash posts.
You can noticed someone not posting as good as another person, but having more merit, but still he is having merits and ranking higher. People that are giving merit can be partial, especially those on local boards, but merit still ensures that posting quality on this forum is achieved.
Merit system is not a direct cause of quality posts on the forum. Qualified content existed even before the implementation of this system. Moreover, many users who have been here on the forum almost since its inception claim that there were more high-quality discussions than now. Merits did not affect the improvement of the quality of the posts. They just contributed to reducing the number of users who spam.
In my point of view, the most notable thing the merit system does is that it draws a line between quality posters and spammer. The higher number of merits below your forum names represents his dedication, contribution, and ability of that person to make quality comments. When i saw some posts that got merited i tried to read them all in case i might learn something new.