The newer 'merit' system means you will be spending likely more time as a newbie. Previously it was possible to rank up to Jr. Member and then to regular Member status in a matter of several months depending on how active you were. Now it could take longer than that. This should be good for the forum as it will bring less spam, low quality posts.
Well, that's true as we will not be getting to see one word posts which newbies used to do earlier to climb up the ladder of ranking system as they have to earn their merits with useful posts or services in order to grow. I appreciate your post as being a newbie you have posted this, If you looks around the forum there are many newbie are earning merits with their posts which helps the forum.