How ironic is not it? there may be a possibility to level up for the newbie to the member level, but to climb to the next level is very difficult and takes time. It is true that you say, most people are just busy to comment on and are too stingy to donate merit, although there is, it is good to be given more than 1 merit, although they have a lot of sMerit.
Users should not ask for how many merits for each of their high-quality thread. Why?
1. They might subjectively think that their threads are high-quality, but in fact those threads might be actually low-quality. Therefore, those threads don't deserve to earn any merit.
2. In case of their threads are actually high-quality ones, they can not earn merit ore more than one. Why? It is due to the fact that one thread might be useful, helpful with one person, but it might not with others. Different users have different background of knowledge and have different problems.
How many merits they give you depends upon the level of satisfaction with your threads.