That would not be a very inclusive policy. In the fight against spam we don't want to deter anyone who is actively trying to become a prat of the BTC community.
Those who want to become a part of the community wont actually bother about how many merits they gather. Rather they would try to make informative posts and get to know each other.

Some people come here to just lurk, and may not feel like posting for a while. It may actually be more productive to prevent an account from posting for 24 hours so they can spend some time reading first.
For newbies that can be a point but for older shitposters who are already shitposting I dont see any reason for them to stop posting because they are shitposters in the first place. Unless they get banned of course. But they will be back with new accounts so no use. But reading what loyce has posted (which I quote here) seems to be a good thing.
I have a better idea: let's ban everybody who hasn't received a single Merit yet, despite making hundreds of posts.
All the bottomfeeding half-English vomitposters are going to come at you with the beggar army! Shields up Loyce!