Okay, so probably a dumb question. OP was looking for merit, so I'm assuming that you need merit AND activity to rank up instead of just one or the other? I glanced through the FAQs but assumed it was just one or the other instead of both..
People like to say there are no dumb questions, only dumb answers... but then again, your question has been asked (and answered) multiple times. So, it is probably classified as an "unnecessary question".
If you're already in the "Beginners & Help" (aka B&H) section, you should really have read the sticky posts at the top like this one:
Newbies - Read before postingThere is a LOT of very good information in that thread... like this:
...
What forum account levels are there?There are multiple account levels on this forum, here is a quick list for all of them and how to get them:
| Rank | Required activity | Required merit |
| Brand new | 0 | 0 |
| Newbie | 1 | 0 |
| Jr Member | 30 | 1 |
| Member | 60 | 10 |
| Full Member | 120 | 100 |
| Sr. Member | 240 | 250 |
| Hero Member | 480 | 500 |
| Legendary | 775-1030 | 1000 |
You get merit points when someone sends you some for one of your posts. For more information, checkout
Forum ranks/positions/badges and
Merit & new rank requirements.
...
That last link leads to
a post by theymos describing the merit system and how it affects ranks. This post starts with:
In addition to activity, everyone now has a merit score, and you need both a certain activity level and a certain merit score in order to reach higher member ranks.