I really like the idea o_e_l_e_o. Separation of the rank level from the possibility of display signature and combine it with the number of earned merits would be a great solution (much better than deranking all high ranked users who didn't earned any merits).

Thanks to this, we would avoid "punishing" users who deservedly gained their rank before introducing the merit system. Today we can not treat everyone the same because many of Legendary users undoubtedly contributed a lot to this forum in the past when there was no merit system and they surely deserved their high rank (even if they didn't earned any merits last 15 months), but there were also many of them whose contribution was zero and they got ranks thanks only to activity. Unfortunately, today checking who really deserved his rank and who did not is not possible at all.

Such a separation would have the additional advantage - it would significantly reduce the phenomenon of account trading, because it would no longer be profitable to buy high accounts, without the "earned" merits.