I don't really have much idea cause I was able to make it till my rank right now through posting a lot way back when merit sysyem is still not present. Throughout my experiences, the only way I was able to get merit was through giveaway threads which offers free merit and sometimes, I get some merits through posting real high quality posts that is very relative to the topic. I feel sorry for the newbies cause ranking up is not as easy as it was before.