Everyone wants to level up - especially those who have not yet reached member status.

Add to that: most comments will not be seen by a merit faucet. Even if there's a particularly good post, most people will just move on and not even think of assigning merit points.

So it's understandable that people will ask for merit. Buying/trading definitely goes against the spirit. But asking someone to recognize that they made a good comment? That sounds reasonable.