I'm glad I came across this, as I want to grow in my ranks on here, and I've been contemplating how to earn merits or buy a Copper membership and how. So I'm glad I found this, let me make a step. Good luck to Me.
If you want to rank up your account you'd be better off getting merits than buying a coppermembership. if you want to earn merits just be active and continue joining discussions or sharing information that you think could be helpful to some members, eventually, you'll earn merits if people find your post deserving of it. also, buying a copper membership doesn't really "rank up" your account, it just gives you a title that allows you to bypass restrictions that are put on newbie accounts.