That,s is the easiest way to get merit.
Okay, I got some merit, what's next? Did I start to understand something better because of this? Did this open up any secret sections of the forum with innermost knowledge for me? As far as I know, no. Frankly, it's nice when someone likes your posts, and someone positively marks them, but that's not the goal, is it? We get knowledge and we share it, better or worse we do it, but this is the main thing. Or am I not understanding something well enough? Merits and signatures are just a nice addition, aren't they?
This should be the one OP write on how "to cope" with the forum, by seeing it as a place to discuss things and get knowledge, and treating merits and signatures as a nice addition. But sadly, a lot of members --I think OP included-- see the forum and signature as main source of income. That's why merits and ranks are important factors as it means bigger paycheck from campaigns. Ironically, I think this is one of the reason why merit system is being introduced to the forum on the first place, to deter people making pointless posts for the sake of ranking up and/or get paid