It's now harder these days to level up and or get merit. We are the mercies of those with smerit.
Its not impossible to get merit if you are able to do some good posts. Also note that there is no shortage of smerits because when you will receive 2 merits you will automatically get 1 smerit to send. Also there are merit sources who have been given a lot of merits to distribute but you will only get the merits if you post something constructive and valuable for the community.