but one of the major problem I'm having now is that I'm not well clarify of what merit entails
~snip~
forget about the merit system and work on yourself as how you will be able to make quality posts, then you will understand more better.
That's right, this is the most important thing and must be understood by users here. Most beginners are looking for merit and rank which will later be used to get additional work here.
they slightly ignore the quality of posts and discussions related to what is on the forum. Instead of wanting to get merit and increase ranking quickly, people like this will usually spam more and just waste their time on the forum.
So it would be better if you keep learning, and read anything related to crypto more often. because that's where you can grow.