Re: sr.member,hero, legendary show an example in earnings of these merits
The fact that you were able to get merits for your posts means the system works.
I was a member already when introduced merit 
and I can't say how it influenced the achievement of new merit. I would create a new account for the experiment but I'm just learning what the crypto world is and it will last longerAnd there you have it, even THE PHARMACIST has told you that this kind of experiment isn't needed, and having busted like that, I think its a shameful thing mate. I thought you already knew that Merit trading is forbidden because you already reached the MEMBER position.
Now that you have been given some answers for this thread I think you should already locked this up for eternity. Various number of high ranking people can easily go up because they're already a quality posters and they do know what to do just to earn Merits from the others. So there would be no problem for them in ranking up.