We all know the beginning stage is not easy as a newcomer needs to be patient. Atleast he or she should be getting no matter how little some reward for their resources in terms of time and materials.
I joined the forum and all I told some people around me about it, the next question is," how much have u earned", I was absolutely discourage as I remained mute till date.
I empathize with you on what you're saying, most of us went through that stage of expecting our posts to be given merit when we feel that we've really put efforts to make quality posts, but the system doesn't really work that way, you'd have have to be consistent with quality posts and eventually the merit will start to come. However seeing that you're still new in the forum, merit should not be your main focus for now, you should rather concentrate on increasing your cryptocurrency knowledge, with time members will be rewarding your quality posts with merit. It's true that the merit system can not be said that it's fair, because despite the quality of your posts, if no member merits you, there's nothing you can do about it, if you quit it won't affect their campaign earnings. So it's best that you don't worry about getting merit now and try to learn and flow with the discussions