in my opinion, to get merit is actually easy. Because this forum has provided posts from seniors that contain about merit. Just how you want to read it or not.
In my opinion, you never read a post about merit. Because one way to get merit is to fix your post.

Here reference about merit
FAQ: Everything you need to know about forum 'activity, account ranks and merit by hilariousandco (Global Moderator, Legendary)
Merit & new rank requirements by theymos (Administrator, Legendary)