Congrats mate, you got what you deserved. If some contribute to the forum then the forum can give back something like merits. It's not an easy task to earn merit nowadays and seems your merit ratio is quite a good comparative with your activities. I can't recall how much merit I had earned in a year, but all of my merits by earn. You proved once again earning merits and rank up is possible for good contributors although it's hard.

By the way, the reputation thread shouldn't self-moderate and merit doesn't relate with reputation.