I hope I won't be rejected this time cause technically I'm still being a Newbie:
It's not only the technical posts that can get merits, though if a user is tech savvy, he can make good posts about the network and answer technical questions from newbies and get alot of merits for that. But you can do other things as a user to earn merits also, the forum is not only about technical discussions, discover the annex that suits you.
We are just trying to help the new participants here because we understand how hard it is to earn some Merits.
I'd also help out with some smerits on your merit giveaway thread if I can find good posts from the applicants.