Hello everyone, I have very recently joined this community and have read/skimmed through many beginner help sections and am still unsure of where to get started.

I have a mediocre understanding of how cryptocurrency works and am wondering on how to advance on this forum.

Specific Questions:

1. Which sub-forum should I participate in to gain knowledge of bitcoin the most?

2. How do I contribute effectively (and what kind of skills would be deemed valuable)?

3. I understand how to gain merit and such but what is merit really useful for (is it just reputation)?

Thanks a lot for all of your help and I'm looking forward to joining this community.