You can apply for Hugeblack, merit help for local boards, Fillipone, thread on sharing your best 5 posts for merit and when you need 15 merits to your next rank, Ratimov, helps with the needed merit. And they're all on this particular board, you can take advantage of these opportunities to increase your merits, that is if you're not already doing so. I'm a beneficiary of this merit help, just like like many other members in this forum.
It's important that you're active in the forum and try as much as possible to make quality posts, because I believe that for someone to merit your post here, you'll have to convince them with a quality post that is relevant to the topic of discussion.
Finally I think that the merit system is not very fair in the hands of forum members, because no matter the quality of your posts, if nobody merits you, then there's nothing you can do about it.
I think it would be too early to start applying for those threads
Ratimov Fillipone Hugeblack.
If we're talking about a newbies looking for merit I think they should exercise patience before going to those threads, like get to know some certain things on the Forum before hunting for merit.
I can't say the merit system isn't fair at all, it has to do with what you have to offer, you having a very good post that "you" feel deserve merit doesn't mean you make other members to drop merit because of what you think.
To me I feel you just have to let the merit come when it's time, sometimes what you feel is quality post isn't that quality to others. That's why I think the merit system is just ok to me.
For your information the OP is full member rank, not a newbie, if he were a newbie, I wouldn't have given him such an advice. Check his activity in the forum and you'd have to understand where he's coming from. He's probably not putting in enough quality posts, but I'm not interested to check his posts.
My advice to him was to apply for these merit sources, that is if he wasn't already taking advantage of their merit helps. Of cause he has to up the quality of his posts to get their merit, the same goes for any forum member that needs help from them to rank up.
I however totally agree with you that newbies should focus on learning about crypto related topics and forum rules, before thinking of merit.