Re: sr.member,hero, legendary show an example in earnings of these merits
The fact that you were able to get merits for your posts means the system works.
I was a member already when introduced merit 
and I can't say how it influenced the achievement of new merit. I would create a new account for the experiment but I'm just learning what the crypto world is and it will last longerI see you are good at earning merits mate. With the member rank account itself you already earned around 14 merits after merits rank up implemented on this forum. You choose the right thread to share your post there.
You may find the new thread has been created to ask the doubts which is deadly needed.
Those kind of threads will allow you earn merits from the op poster. Next to that technical and statistical assistance will help you on that.