Also, you can be awarded merits by winning contests. I don't think they actually cover that in any of those help threads, which is ironic, because that's how most people seem to be getting them nowadays...
The other way is to compete in a contest in the Forums and win. If a moderator is running the contest, he/she might be giving a merit away as a reward.
Yeah they say that... this is from the first thread linked to...
