I applaud Theymos for the change, I know Hilarious was pushing for something like this for a long time, glad it has finally been implemented. I dare say that 5 merits would have been better than 1 however as this would have made identifying merit trades and sales a lot easier, but it's a step in the right direction.
Just want to remind everybody that we are likely to see a huge influx of new Newbies spamming the merit Meta section in the hopes of grabbing that elusive single merit. I would hope that before handing out merit to newbies to check their post history to see if they were previously a bounty spammer suddenly posting a "merit worthy" post so they can get back to their spamming ways.
With that in mind, how do you guys think we should best distribute merits to the ones who genuinely deserve it? What should merit sources look out for, and how can we prevent spammers simply going back to their old ways after getting the 1 merit (as they will likely get one eventually).
I would base merit handouts based on if the post changed your point of view on something or introduced you to something brand new that helps your life in some way. Spammers going to spam. So if you give out your merit for an post that changes you in some way then it seems like a fair trade. I would not attempt to predict what the merit receivers next move will be. Your better of spending that time predicting the market. Both are about impossible tasks however if you get the prediction right on the market there is a nice payout.
