A large number of users believe that merit is the holy grail, and also that older members do not want to give merit to their posts.
Meanwhile, I have 4000 sMerits waiting for worthy posts.
One day, I'll invite you to the gambling board. I'm not sure what sports interest you or what kind of discussion you want, but I can easily produce 10-20 value posts in our self-moderated threads weekly if that's okay for you.