Trust me it's really about what you post that will get you merits. Even if you're helping out with what you post but you created it in a very generic way that even a newbie could do then in the eyes of other users its just like a simple post. You need to have a strategy of getting the attention of those people who are sending merits. Unique posts can get you merits as well depends on the content and value of the article or reply that you make. Effort and patience is the key in ranking up. You just have to wait for that moment to come and better improve the way you post to get to the next rank that you desired.
I somewhat agree with this. If you are active in the forum you can build network of friends and those people will notice the way you post and they will reward you for a post that they find helpful and valuable to the community. Sharing merits with friends to posts that are insignificant or trading merits to friends is against the rules. Abusing the merit system can get your account banned or red tagged.

I myself have been posting in this forum, I know I'm not an expert when it comes to acquiring merits but I always find time to take extra effort without actually expecting to get merits.
As long as I can help out others and share my little knowledge about anything that involves in crypto then I'm good.

Posting in the right section as well could get you more merits to a post that is substantial.