That's the reward. The 100, 250, 500, or 1000 merits he received along the way is the community's way of saying we see you and we appreciate what you are doing.
This is just accurate already. Newbies like their posts to be merited, the quality posters among them are merited.
KingsDen, with what is going on this forum, no newbie that actively become a full member will find it difficult to join a signature campaign paying up to $40 weekly, is this not a reward enough when there is still bounty options for some that purposely register account for bounties.
The reward system of this forum is accurate enough and not comparable. Or, which reward are you implying? I believe it will be the ones that can result to this forum becoming spammers forum. One thing I noticed the admin accurately gotten rightly is merit system which is enough as the reward.