In my opinion merit system is a great idea and a non-regulatory way to control the members from posting spam in this form.
But what about members who hoard merits and just post garbage just for signature bounty.
This is unfair to newbies who are posting quality posts but never get merits due these selfish senior members?
If there is rule for newbies to survive in this form why there is no rule for these senior members?
If this flaw is fixed then i think merit system the best.
I think bitcointalk.org Will do justice to all new people as soon possible. I agree with you merit system needs to fix it. sorry to say till now not stooped merit farming. How funny some people already get too much merit for bounty post there joined before but I think it's not enough for eligible for getting merit by default.