Gone are those days when we had forums for fun, now ranking up is what alleged newbies look out for from the point of account creation, but that being said we still have some genuine newbies, who are following the process and contributing genuinely to discussions, we can easily spot them around the various boards.
You've got a point. I said in a post in another thread, although it was for a different discussion but I think it still correlates. The way things were done 4-5 years ago on this space is not how they do now. The merit system back when I joined here was something that was valued because it was like your posts were insightful enough to gain a merit and there's this sense of fulfilment one feels when their posts get merited by a reputable member because it would then mean that they posted quality content good enough to catch their attention.
These days, some newbies who aren't entirely new just concern themselves with that alone and once they make just one good topic, and it gets merited, they begin to expect the rest that would follow, no matter how generic it is, ought to receive merits too.
It would not be wise to punish those few genuine newbies who are willing to learn and abide by the rules for sins that those alleged newbies and defaulters have caused but the question is how do we create a sort of balance?