<…>
The maximum potential I find may be misleading to some extent. It depends on how the distribution flows: the more chain-like shape (single thread), the nearer to the maximum potential; but a much ramified tree-like shape scores the toll more towards the original amount. Say for example that the 5.377 weekly sMerits you mention are awarded to 5.377 distinct people (1 sMerit each), and that those people are not merited again. The initial batch will in practice not generate more sMerits (1 sMerit creates a virtual half, but non-transferable).
The numbers on the charts are precise, but the maximum potential Merit Sourced sMerit would be a theoretical figure, with the problem above mentioned, and the additional fact that Merit Sources are not the only player in the awarding game (albeit being behind a very large proportion as we can infer up to a certain degree here:
sMerit Senders & Receivers – Weight of top 100 and 200 weekly contributors).
<…> As for the stats... I suppose if a Newbie is awarded a 2points merit by one person then 1 point will show up in the graph as given to a newbie and 1 point toba Jr. M.
Correct, the data table shows how many people have receives sMerit by rank, not the amount of sMerits received. There are many now Jr. Members that have been awarded sMerit this week. This is really expected, since I guess the idea is to reinstate to Jr. Member those that have a decent posting track and/or are capable of creating decent content now. With that in mind, it has become easier these days to award sMerit so some degraded Jr. Members in the context of this week. I figure that the share of merited people on the Jr. Member rank will decrease over the next few weeks.
A correlated fact that I didn’t emphasize before is that there is a large peak in senders these four days (see Senders chart, nearly doubling that of the entire previous week). The hopeful interpretation here would be that the buzz has stimulated many to participate in the merit awarding side of the system. Of course, there are likely to be a certain amount of merit abusing accounts meriting some de-ranked alts (@LoyceV has this hutch too as I’ve seen on his post here). The truth is somewhere in between.
<...> Maybe if you ask theymos will give you the numbers/names. <…>
I really don’t believe that it would be released. I’ve asked for some info recently but I don’t believe I’ll get it (nothing too important though).
<…> Or they probably saving some satoshis to buy a copper membership, problem solved.
That is likely to be the sway they will take, since a Copper membership is relatively cheap (depending on the country of origin, and how many alts are "at work" here).