my personal opinion is sometime merit and rank are important for people that have good and spend so much time in bitcointalk
and some airdrops chaser like me that require to be junior/senior members.
but merit isn't the main focus, as we can still look and read posts, find some knowledges or informations.
it depends on the individu itself, what is the main focus of their purpose.
Yes, Most people join bitcointalk for bounty or signature campaign. The forum was full of shitty poster once and that's why theymos decided to bring merit. Which helped a lot to improve this bitcoin community. Although, it has some bad effects too like some are selling merit or giving merit to alts.