Newbie should be corrected and not to be use to earn merits, most of the top rank members earn most of their merits from attacking and reporting newbie.
You won't blame them because that Is the easiest way of corrections. Somebody who wants to change will change despite the criticism. Infact criticism is the best way to learn, because it gives you a motivation to know your left from your right. It might be sad that creating a Merit deserving post will be diverted to reply instead of the actual post, but merit is not only for thread created but sometimes comment are interesting than the thread itself. So don't be naive or feel bad, it just a gradual process that's how it has been. If you creat a meaningful thread that deserves merit, It will be given without a waste of time. And you will receive a nice reply.