Good luck! we really need more merit sources on local boards
I'm not familiar with ThemePen, his posts, or his merit-giving history other than what was shown here but I agree. I'd say every local board that has a sizeable number of active members needs at least one dedicated merit source--and I've been of that opinion for years now. It allows members who might not be able to write in English the chance to earn merits more easily and prevents the main section from being flooded with incomprehensible posts.
I think most campaigns pay for posts from local boards, right? So that's another reason for local board merit sources. That said, OP isn't exactly a long-time member, and the merits he has given out have been to a small number of individual members. If he were going to be a merit source, he ought to spread them out a lot wider if you know what I mean.
While we don't have a long-term track record of ThemePen to evaluate, an experiment with someone relatively new as a source of merit could be interesting. This would encourage other newcomers to improve the quality of the interaction.
Maybe it's a good idea? I don't know, but also as a newbie, I would see it that way.