I think that would be a better step rather than disabling the merit system on WO thread. I've also voted "No" only because I don't want the merits to be disabled on this thread. I would go with PowerGlove's idea that the merits should be restricted in a way that only ranked members those who are above Full Member rank should be eligible to receive merits on this thread.
The idea of forbidding of giving merits to particular ranks is much worse than the idea of forbidding them at all. The idea of segregation sounds disgusting. I understand that you or I already have ranks that would allow us to overcome this rank qualification, but the very idea that I can’t send merit to someone just because they haven’t passed this qualification yet looks very unattractive. If there is no way to send something to anyone, it will be just a given, but the inability to send someone personally is oppression.