There is nothing wrong with asking since there is no way to earn merit from the forum.
Wrong. Such things should be given to someone that contributes and posts a high quality content, not the other way around (by asking).
Read this:
I'm hoping that this system will increase post quality by:
- Forcing people to post high-quality stuff in order to rank up. If you just post garbage, you will never get even 1 merit point, and you will therefore never be able to put links in your signature, etc.
- Highlighting good posts with the "Merited by" line.
While we will not be directly moderating this, I encourage people to give merit to posts that are objectively high-quality, not just posts that you agree with.
Do not beg for merit excessively.