~snip~
This forum is getting worse and worse over time...
I don't give a shit about reactions really, but you can't deny that the merit system is flawed.
Look at the amount of low-quality users who have merits.
---
Considering you haven't been here long enough like some other members, I don't think you realize how much better the forum is than it was ten years ago. That doesn't mean everything can work perfectly, and that includes the merits system, which has done a good job since 2018.
If you search Meta, there are dozens of topics about merits, but the truth is quite simple if we want to talk about what constitutes a quality post that deserves merits. The fact is that each member has his own criteria by which he decides what a post is worthy of merits and what is not, not to mention how biased members of local boards are towards each other, which is somewhat logical.
I assume that part of your frustration stems from the fact that you were not selected to be a merit source, while on the other hand, some others did get it, and again we come to the fact that they are part of the problem because in their local boards they give merits to members who in other boards are not at the level we expect.
Still, it's not something we can influence - you, me and a dozen other people who didn't get a chance in the last addition of merit sources would perhaps be better at it than some others, but the focus then was obviously on local boards. What you need to know is that changes on this forum are very slow and difficult, and you have to get used to that if you don't want to be constantly frustrated.