I don't hold my sMerit, but my intention is to give it to different people. Of course it's not easy, and I don't see a good posts everyday but giving one to two people is a bit better than 2 merit to one person. You gonna say,
yeah but those two create 1 more, sure they think about the other users.
Often people are willing to give merit to those who have already received one ( two, because this changed a bit after the new rules for sure) by just checking the merited posts in the history and they feel more comfortable to give their merit in a way they are not wasted on spammers.
Sure but those who have 0 ( or 1 ) have more difficulties to cross the border and earn more merit.
I try to go trough the newbie users history before I reward a merit in the same time i'm giving merit to more established members too trying to be around 50/50 (but it's not unfortunately). I'm not a
source (yet
) so every single point matters for someone and changes the way the others see him.