I think begging for merit is demeaning, and not something that members should do.
I've started to ignore members who beg for merit in a post. This means that I can't see their posts now or in the future, and I will not be able to award them sMerits regardless of the quality of their posting.
I'm sad that I have to do this, but there seems to be a new trend developing - posters cut and paste an article, and then beg for merit for doing it.
The purpose of merit is good but this purpose was defeated because of members' attitude toward merits. There are higher ranks play on the merits they purposely wants the lower ranks to beg for it.