It is the key point, fella.
Avoiding plagiarism does not help you to earn merits, but it do help you to avoid account ban, especially perma ban.
And, it makes sense.
Why do you have to put massive, continuous efforts over days, months, or years to earn 100, 250, 500, or even higher amount of  merits, and finally got perma ban due to some of your posts are plagiarims?
It sounds like the stupidiest way to do.
This is one of main reasons why we usually see perma bans due to plagiarism on newbies, or lower rank members. Higher rank members known the rules well, and they don't stupid enough to intentionally violate that rule.