Yes, I try to do useful posts as shitposting serves no purpose + it wastes my time as well. I didn't shitpost before those new rules and I certainly won't start now, but I'm not sure if everything is gravy, as you phrased it. I already had several situations where I thought about how I could get more Merit.
Just an example. Early on, I made a German infographic for the local forum. (https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.29007624).
I posted it in the main Merit-thread (not pinned at that time) as I thought that it would add value and answer many questions that came up. I wrote OP that he could use it in his post. He got 50 Merit, I got 10 so far.
I thought about creating a new thread, modifying it a bit so that it wouldn't be a copy of his. That way, I would have gotten more Merits for sure, but decided against it, because I hate redundant threads myself.
My point here is: I don't like the way the new system lets us compete. Why wasn't the x5 of merit sources and spendable sMerit introduced in the first place? Why only give the minimum of Merit needed for the Rank and not doing a proportional distribution (activity >> merit)?
You yourself said that there will be a lag and lots of moaning posts. This could have been partially avoided. Now people will moan and they have reasons. It's just sad to see so many higher-ranking members who are annoyed by these posts instead of showing sympathy, they simply don't need to face the same situation. Patronizing behavior doesn't serve anyone (not saying you are doing it).
But sure, I will go about as usual and I hope that the increase in distributed sMerit will happen sooner rather than later as it is much needed so that we can forget about all this drama and continue with the reason we are all here for - crypto.