see the description above which explains that the words "free speech"
can the moderator give merited as an appreciation for the post he likes ?
Moderators aren't censored or restricted for any actions in the forum outside of their moderator duties. Therefore, they can merit any post that they wish. Moderators or any staff user for that matter can also be a merit source. Although, AND I can't be clear enough in this; DO NOT use the report function to report posts to be merited, that is not what it is for.