I have been here since 2017 and have Total time logged in: 16 hours and 55 minutes.
How does this Merit thing work? I am defiantly not asking for free or just handouts but I don't understand it.
If I want to give someone a Merit can I not because I am a Newbie? Or do I need to upgrade membership first?
You have been here since before the implementation of bitcointalk, but not really active so you didn't know about merits and all other forum activities which isn't really necessary for everyone to know but if you're will its actually there so all you need to do is start learning which can be achieved by reading more.
Simply to have one sMerits you need to earn 2 Merits then only you can send someone a merit and so on.