But wouldn't it be nice if there were actually ranks like that to aspire to?
I personally wouldn't like to see new ranks introduced as I am perfectly content with my current rank and don't need this feeling of having to farm something endlessly in order to have fun on the forum. Imho, people take this forum way too seriously and new higher ranks would only make things worse in that regard.
IF the new ranks have to do with activity, there is little you can do to grind this measure but to continue contributing to the forum.
I am a low-activity user, and I probably wouldn't get access to those ranks too soon.
But you are right: there is a lot of fun in the forum without ruining everything for merit/activity!