it's wrong from your side. it was necessary to explain to him that this is not correct!
not everyone can know what is allowed on the forum!
each of us was young and inexperienced

Members like this should be punished with temporary ban. This question has been asked at least 100 times on this forum and if you read just the official thread, you will come to know that one has to post good quality posts to get merited.
These members also know this thing but they are kind of looking for shortcuts. He is himself asking if he can beg for merits or not. This shows his attitude and thinking about the merit system. One can get experienced with time but this attitude is something that hardly changes.