What on Earth should happen to get merits? This new system... ah! Well may be not really new, but still. I would even buy if it were legal
P.S. yeah, I know - smart useful posts, but there should be better/quicker way.
You registered 10 days ago, wrote only 18 posts and you are already complaining about merits...this attitude won't help you much.
Getting merits is not that hard, if you actually have something to say. There are plenty of people that are helping newbies like us and are sharing merits for decent posts.
As you mentioned it yourself, you know what is needed, so just stick to that, don't write cliche oneliners, have some clue on the subject you are writing about and merits will come.
Afterall, you can always upgrade your account to copper member if you want to share pictures, wear signatures etc.