I quit don't get it, if smerits are been given to you just so that you can grow then it makes sense to take your unspent smerit away from you if you hoard them for too long, but mind you, is it fair?
Merits are rewarded to quality posters, they earned it, so they should be able to do what they like with what they've earned, don't you think? Who they are going to send their smerits to his the earners choice, this shouldn't cause problems.
Anyways, I don't even see any needs to hold smerits, I most times send them away when I got merited, there is no benefits in storing smerits on your account while reading through so many quality posts on the forum anyway.
So far, I have not heard or seen anyone on this platform complaining of their smerit vanishing or been taken away from them. I think it is an individual choice to decide on who to merit based on their post as it deserves it or not.
I still believe that some people who found their way here without anybody guiding them might really have no idea about the smerit and how to access them but I believe with time those set of people would definitely learn to access it and do the needful by spreading out their merit to those who deserves it through their quality posts.