Why does it hinder everybody? There are members who have been promoted since the introduction of the merit system.
I agree that it hinders those who don't make an effort, and those who pollute the boards, but that is a good thing. One unfortunate consequence was that good posters didn't receive merits, because their posts weren't noticed. However, now that the weeds are dying off, it is possible to read those good threads and posts, and I am sure they will start to receive the merits they deserve. The results will become apparent next month when the merit sources get their next quota, and I hope that the technical help posters will start to get the rewards they deserve.
Agree! There are lots of case-study, which already ranking up several weeks after launch day of merit system. I don't remember them all to list their names here; just some of them (nullius, iasenko, hugeblack, and so on.)
Those users are motivating cases for other users in the forum to look at, to learn from their valuable experiences (how to learn? Learn from their topics and their threads. Some of them created topics to share their experiences. Or learn from their merited threads).
For those who interested to learn those ones' lessons. Please use Member search function of the forum. I don't want to give links here to lazy users (who will don't care, and don't visit those links, if available here).