It is very difficult to rank up nowadays because of that merit. Bitcointalk forum is strict and at the same time protecting its members from spammers and I don't think so if it is effective in order to measure the leveling of a certain member. It is true that only high rank members do have sMerits and they will preserve that mostly based on their interests.
However, given those struggles and hindrances, we must stay optimist in order for us to gain what we envisioned on bitcoin. We just have to bear in mins that every thing happens will result into both sides, the positive and negative ones.