It surprises me how a newbie that has just been on the forum for 6 days is already asking about the merit system, there are other important rules about the community which you need to know about, if you go against those rules, you will face the consequences. Get to know the forum rules, stay active on the forum and you will even know how the merit works.
Maybe he is new to this forum and even he doesn't know how Merit works? For which maybe he wanted to know about Merit. I think its not wrong to ask because as a newbie many members ask such questions we should answer them properly. In fact, one of the reasons why people are so concerned about merit is that it shows their worth. Maybe all members of this forum have the right to ask all kinds of forum related questions, I think asking about merit is also within the rules of this forum.
Apprentices need to know from the very beginning how merit works and how to earn merit or how much merit earns a rank or how much activity earns a rank membership. Whenever a member's post is constructively informative, if someone likes that post, they can give it a merit gift.
Yeah he's a newbie with about 5 post and 6 activities and from his profile I think the account was created recently hence the question, however I see no wrong in the question he asked cause it's better for someone to ask questions when they got no clue about things in the forum, especially fo newbies. It shows their willingness to learn and as an old member of the forum you're in position to help newbies get more knowledge about the forum.
Yes there are some other important rules and regulations about the forum, but that doesn't mean knowing how the merits works and it's benefits in the forum is not important as well, infact it's one of the most important thing every forum member needs to take note of cause asides the activity the merits is one of the key criteria to ranking up.
Well my advice to newbies is that they should take their time to study the forum properly, learn the policy of the forum and don't fail to ask questions concerning things you come across and have no clue of, there are lots of members that would be willing to guide you through your journey here.