But, in my opinion, ranking up is way too easy now.
I agree with you but it's also true that high ranked users send merits to other high ranked users.But they don't give merits so much to those who are working hard to prove them.
That's why Newbies are getting disappointed and approaching to make plagiarized posts.
You will have to change this mentality if you want to rank up, my very first topic earned a merit, my second topic earned ore than 5 merits, I have made topics that earned more than 15 merits, I joined less than four months ago. I was so patient to learn about the forum, knowing their rules and ways of meriting posts before starting at first.
I will advice you to be positive about high rank members still give merits to low rank members, study the high rank members, knowing how they comment to topics, there will be similar things like that later again, comment like them and they will not hesitate to rank your post. Also check merited posts to improve yours. Good luck.