I still barely understand. For example, if I want to give "thumbs up"/"bookmark"/(give merit) to someone, at which point can I do it? How do I receive sMerit for that, which are requirements for that? Like, Ill quote 10 underappreciated new posts in Meta thread, and what gives - someone kind (with his own limited sMerit to spend) gives me sMerit or?.. Also, as far as Ive understood, when I spend sMerit (half of Merit received), the former half of goes untouched, but the latter is spent whatsoever, or how exactly does that work?
Let's put Merit aside, and think of it as an upvote. But in order to give upvotes, you must receive upvotes from other members first.
For every 2 upvotes you receive, you get to send 1 upvote. So if you have 50 upvotes, you have 25 to give away at your disposal. You can't send half an upvote (i.e. 1 merit = 0.5 sMerit).
And if you're wondering how to upvote posts, think of any that you think deserves them, just like how you like one because it's helpful. Here are several conditions that upvotes are given out for:
1. The reply was very helpful and easy to understand
2. You learned something new from that post, informative
3. The post was about contributing something good, such as improving the forums
4. You liked an artwork posted
... etc
So how you give it, it's up to you.