1 - Newbie starts a topic - copy/paste content from bitcoin-related article + link (so no plagiarism), no own thoughts nor any other contribution. Is it treated as spam and should it be reported to mods, or is it allowed and we should just ignore it?
If a user not contribute something from himself and he just copy paste from others artical I will call it soft spam even there us useful content. Every one can quote from reference link but it doesn't mean they just copy paste total post. In that case reporting to moderators will not work. They will not consider as spam. Also you can't report for plagiarism as well he added reference link. But if a user doing same thing continuously than you should PM to moderators with description.
2 - Would you reward a Newbie with his 1st merit point, if you see a decent post of his and/or engagement in discussion, but his posting history is, in vast majority, bounty-campaign proof posts? Do you consider such people as spammers, or you just ignore campaign-report posts? After all, they don't pollute the forum and are contained in dedicated threads.
If I merit newbie I check his post history. Especially after implement new merit system. Because they could copy paste other post or from others articals. So they made one decent post it doesn't mean they are not spammer if his post history full with spam post. But I encourage to send merit new people if they are not spammer. But it's really depend on sender. There is no rule that you should visit post history. Usually a decent post deserve merit.