Dude at this your stage I don't think you should be concerned or worried about getting merit for now and merit is not given anyhow if you must know and if you make 21 posts without merit what it means is that, it is very possible that none of them is worthy to be given merit and when it comes to merit, it can not be compromise and if you have read the rules very well you would have seen that it is only informative and good post ( quality post) that can make one earn merit(s). Though it can be very tiring and frustrating to have a lots of post without merit and at this point in time what one need do is adjust and make sure to understand the forum and sometimes reading threads can or may look like a waste of time but trust me it is not the more you read the more insights and the more understanding you will have that will make you change your post quality.