I also think merits shouldn't be banned from the WO, but it would be good to remove incentives for the merit farmers somehow. Limit meriting posters below a set minimum?  Block low ranks from even posting here? These policies might do more harm than good.

My personal solution as of now is liberal use of the ignore list. I've had it empty for years - not even r0ach, nullius or similar characters ever made it there. But then, I started plonking people into the ignore pit at the first hint of a brown nose - or at the first bit of acrytical copypasting.

I know this is stuff for meta, but it's scary out there. I'm leaving this here.