Sorry for asking this guys! (Sorry not sorry)
Sorry but no sorry from me as your post made me one thing clear about which I was trying to gain some more information quoted below:
Whats the merit cycling club?
I kinda get the merit thing but not fully,
You contribute a good helpful post gain merit?.
See a good helpful post give merit.
Whats it for ?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/merit-new-rank-requirements-2818350A thread in Meta if you'd have actually searched for it.
Whats it for indications of a shit poster or what?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/what-is-the-shitposting-2836505A piece of information in this thread that describes what is shitposting. Specifically, shitposters are those who make off-topic blatant unnecessarily unrelated spam-posts just to gain more post counts - that may either be signature spamming or just a regular one. Some just continue to send reports in ICOs which is also considered spam as you're not here to do that alone but to gain knowledge too.
How do people "abuse" the merit system?
Obviously by trading them. The best (or I'd say worst) way to abuse merit system is to buy or sell them for money and give them to those who don't deserve to rank up at all.
Trust When is the right time to issue trust?.
When I get a signature made and they deliver? Or they do not?
First things first:
Trust is not a cheque that can be issued. You can give it to someone whom you think to be trustworthy, you can also remove someone from your trust list by adding ~ before their username, e.g.; ~Stedsm if you don't trust me.
Signatures have nothing to do with trust, but providing services has. If you make good graphics or better signatures and sell them for BTC and if your buyer is satisfied with your work, you can get good trust ratings from them and others as well based on their convenience.
Or for more serious stuff like losing BTC in a scam?
If a user scams,
Scam Accusations is the correct place to head towards before issuing any trust ratings to the scammer. Prove the person wrong with proofs and then give a rating is what I believe to be the best option.
Whats the right etiquette when handling these things?
It depends on a case-by-case basis and in what manner the scam / trade / service was conducted as each case has a different outcome.
On a side note whats DT Members mean?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/marketplace-trust-211858Some info can be gained here about what DT members are. They're actually some highly trusted members who have done something special for the community or are active in trading - in simple words, extra trustworthy amongst the whole community (sometimes even highly trusted members turn out to be scammers so do your own research - DYOR before you go ahead).