Yes exactly all the members don't need to be passionate about the bitcoin
Well, being passionate about bitcoin definitely helps the cause.
Being passionate about something is key to learn about it and improve your knowledge.
Of course you can learn something you are not passionate about (I learnt latin at school, after all), but soon you will forget that.
Of course, mileage can vary in terms of how much anyone is going to want to send merits for members involved in shitcoins or various scams.. or smoke and mirror projects.. but sure there are members who actually believe in the merits of various shitcoin projects and members will sometimes send merits if a member is able to explain some convoluted bullshit in a way that is a wee bit less convoluted, even if it still hardly makes any sense to some of us.. ..
and considering my own number of smerits sent out would surely be reduced if someone is either posting about shitcoins or has ways of talking about various projects in which s/he does not seem to understand what the fuck is bitcoin.. and the place of their shitcoin in the scheme of things.
I cannot recall coming across a thread that attempts to quantify the merit differences between topics.. but it seems to me that quite a few merit sources do get turned off when shitcoin talk exceeds a certain threshold.. so in that regard, there will be variance between members regarding how much shitcoin talk they are willing to tolerate before becoming uninspired in terms of hitting that send smerit button.