I think people hold merlyn to a higher standard for two related reasons; the first, he is who he is, one of the "stars" of the Perl community. Like it or not, we expect more out of those people than the average Tom, Dick, or Harry. The second is directly related to that; merlyn has more XP than anyone on the site, including vroom. Whether you agree with that or not, you have to agree that the fact he has it makes him different from the rest of the Monks.