Merit is the main obstacle for members to improve their rank. You need to make a lot of posts and threads in good quality to get enough Merit. For years doing that to rank up from Full Mem to Sr Mem or from Mem to Full Mem. So a lot of users don't have any choice but to stay with sign campaign, earning pitiful rewards with their rank.
Getting involved in the forum discussion will gradually lead to accumulation of merit, it is a grind indeed for many users but the point of coming to this forum should not be ranking up to join a campaign, but to discuss and learn about crypto in general. I can see this from a newbie's perspective to be a daunting task, but merit sources are generous enough and do identify quality posts with tact. Read and try to get involved, it takes time and you might not like it but it works out gradually.
Worse, the bear market also influences the price of bounties and airdrops to drop further even before they are rewarded to the participants.
I will say that bounties have always been like that and airdrops even worse. The only thing that does not change with bear market, is the bitcoin price and hence should be the one being being aimed for.