Obviously anything that is" help me please " related gets the most Merits.
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The "help me please" thread replies usually deserve the most merit, so do the LoyceV-like threads. I always admire his work.
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I'm starting to make more efforts in those directions, helping newbies, photo, video tutorials, stuff like that is appreciated anywhere online i guess.
Local communities too are great since the majorities of those sections don't know English or simply suck at, that's why helping them there (native speakers) can gt them the most Merits.
It's a great start to start helping others, but don't rush in for the merits. From my experience, most merit comes from unexpected paths and posts. There are some high-quality posts I've intentionally made (they're well buried in the numerous pages of posts I have) to chase merits and it just didn't work. So yes, it mostly comes the natural way.