personally me think merit system should not be there and ranks should be done via there post counts and quality of its posts
as of its too hard for new comers too to gather merits from old members who always do trades and exchange merit only for them but the person who is new and if he dont has btc to exchange then its less chance for him even after posting quality post on bitcointalk forum
lol now dont give me merit for this i know the points which me said is true and many will agree

Instead of whining here, start doing your research and find some article/s or idea/s that will help the bitcointalk community. I started from the scratch (0 merit) just like you. If you focus on just earning merits, you will feel that earning it, is so difficult. But, if you focus on learning, you will enjoy your time here. There are so many ideas that you can contribute in our community, you just need to find your happiness or your strength, e.g., you are good on making infographics, about blockchain, cryptography or anything that you are good at(of course related to bitcoin). I am sure you will earn your merit if you just contribute without thinking any return (merit). Knowledge is power.
nice! i think you rigth sir. and 100℅ i vote to your post. even you make a lot of post but you can't earn merit because of not good or not quality post you maked. so remember you saying. that first. make a good research about crypto or blackchain or ech.. . so after that merit cames next.