Well, everyone is not prohibited to earn money from signature or anything else in this forum, as far as i know. Merit just make sure that the money is going to the "right and worthy" person.
You mean the persons who joined the forum earlier and therefor had the chance to rank up by spamming 
Look man, i envy them too, but what is the function of whining and pointing out they have upperhand because past system? It wont make our accounts rank up instantly, it wont make the merit system erased, it wont make us any richer. It is better to give your energy to earn merit mate. And to point out, you are not even here when this forum didnt have campaign to pay for their user, while some of the old members do.
And for your info, there are worse people who can earn money from this forum, the alt-account, because not only they get a lot of money, they block the chance of others to earn money.
Maybe in some months/years, also the "right and worthy" persons benefit directly from the Merit-system. Only time will tell
