I think every newbie should have a kind of startup merit, maybe send able or personal or even both so as to navigate in this space.
You don't need merit to navigate through the forum my friend, all you need is your data connecting and your mobile phone or a laptop. Merit is awarded to quality post based on what a merit patron deemed fit to be a quality post for him or her. Merit is never what can make you navigate the forum, look beyond that and if you try and learn and be productive on the forum, you will get the merit.
Newbies should focus on learning about Bitcoin, the forum, and making contributions. How would a newcomer have a startup merit when you don't know how to use it since you are new. Some people visit this forum constantly, but they have not registered because they are benefiting from the information they are getting. Many newbies I know who focused on merits and ranking up become disappointed and left the forum because they didn't get it as they wanted. Focus more on contributing to the forum, and merits will naturally come.