"In addition to activity, everyone now has a merit score, and you need both a certain activity level and a certain merit score in order to reach higher member ranks."
So both are cheating in order to achieve higher ranks.
Lauda is the highest rank, aTriz is the second highest. Along with this, there is little to no benefit for either to get a higher rank anyway (other than aTriz just being able to say 'Look at me I'm Legendary' - which is admittedly pretty nice).
50 points for a single post ?
The Merit system is intended to be used if you find a post, or the person posting it, constructive and beneficial to the forum...
It's not possible to merit a person, and therefore you have to merit a post that they have made.
An example in my case is my 50 merits to Lutpin. I've known Lutpin for a while and I consider them to be an extremely beneficial member to the forum, and therefore I gave him 50 merit on a post of his.