Definitely. I personally merge earlier, knowing it's less efficient and will put me back relative to zipper merging - just to avoid the stress of trying to get in between potentially uncooperative mergees. But I also don't get too mad at the mergers - maybe they're in a legit hurry

You do, though, depending on where you live. It's the law in plenty of countries, and for good reason. Lanes are meant to be used until they end, and the best strategy with traffic is a zipper merge. Every-other car should be from the ending lane, assuming there are cars in the ending lane. If you aren't letting the next person in to the continuing lane, you are an asshole, and a dangerous driver.