I don't answer your question directly because there are lots of available answers for you.
Firstly, if you know how to use Search function of the BT forum or Searching Tools like Google, you can find available answers for you.
Then, you won't have to create a new topic to ask for help like this.
This is a topic which created to help using Search Function more efficiently.
[Tips] Guide for forum search
These ones will help you to discover essential things of the forum:
- Newbies – Read before posting (Lauda)
- Unofficial list of (ocfficial) bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ
There are several helpful topics:
- Different ways to earn merits
- TMAN's guide to getting merits
- Full Member thanks to merit system (iasenko)
- etc. There are obviously more helpful topics, which you can find them by yourself.
Bonus:
It is a collective topic from @LoyceV. You should spend minutes or hours to find out:
[GUIDES] on Bitcointalk. Index thread (until there is a dedicated subforum?)
There are also different approaches to 'legally' earn merits:
- Contributing to the forum discussions with constructive, helpful, on-context uniqe - if possible - threads. (sounds boring, right? I believe it is one of the most boring recommendations because you can see it many times in the forum).
- Making statistical analysis on many aspects of the forum. For example: Merit distributions, merit abusements, data storage sources for later use, etc.
- Etc.