They say the easiest way to earn merits is to post quality post. I don't find it very helpful. Most of the people here don't care what others are posting and not that kind enough to give you merit even once. No matter how good your post is, you will barely recognized.
True that, lot of good and helpful posts just stay with 0 merit so there is no reward for being a nice guy. A best way is posting funny and sarcastic answers.