Why do these people not read anything? It isn't like there haven't been 100 threads asking this same idiotic question already, and it's also not like there's some secret to earning merits. It's kind of akin to asking how you go about getting your posts upvoted on Reddit. You write something good, and it just happens naturally.
Everyone happy now? Can we lock this bitch up already?
Also, making polls where they're not needed is a big no-no in my eyes. For the life of me, I can't understand why people do that.