Anyone know exactly how long it's been?  Theymos seems to be so tight-lipped about anything to do with the merit system that I don't even have a sense of whether it's doing just fine or if it's at risk of falling apart (though I don't think it's anywhere close to the latter).

When I look at the ranking-up pipeline thread and the one that lists members who've recently ranked up, I do get a sense that we could probably do with a few more merit sources, especially ones that can target the local boards--but I've been saying that same damn thing for at least a year now, and whatever Theymos might be thinking I assume he doesn't agree.

Props for organizing the application threads, OP.