Wall Observer is an important, iconic thread of Bitcointalk but I believe if we do some changes with merit distributions, it should be applied globally on the forum. Wall Observer should not be an exceptional place to apply special rule of merit distributions. Then other threads will need the same and it will lead to endless story.
Is it time to consider about demerit?
There is currently no such thing as a "demerit". I'm hoping that the positive merits alone will be fine. I could add demerits pretty easily later on if necessary, though.
If hopium does not work, demerit feature should be deployed. I guess demerit can be done with not too big difference than flags.