To be very honest. What I have found is that most of the people here just merit users with higher rank and do not prefer users with lower ranks. I do not know why maybe because they thing that they can get something in return? And yes I also believes that merit of newbies are really hard no matter how good they post.
You got your first merit in your 3rd post on the forum, so it doesn't seem that it's really hard for newbies to get merit if they write decent posts.
There were bunch of merit giveaway threads aimed at the Newbies and Jr Member rank, but barely anyone was applying, to the point that they were locked in the end due low interest.