For newcomers like me, it's hard to get merit.
I'm happy to hear the merit system works as intended.
Maybe you can refer to some of the bounty threads. Each week's post has the word count and quantity requirements.. You can get a certain number of Merit if you meet the conditions.
Merit is about quality, not quantity. Please read
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2818350.
No matter how good your post is, getting it merited is still based on chance. Also, if you have a friend here or someone selling merit, it doesn't take a high quality post to get one.. get it?