For member or full member accounts, I can understand since it's easy to get merit to rank up to that level. But for Hero/Legendary, yeah I don't get why they throw away such accounts and reputations for weekly payment from a scam campaign like 1xbit. I suspect most of those accounts are alts or multi-account or already have a low reputation.
That means they can anytime ditch that account for another or give merit to rank up a new account.
When you talk about reputation, it doesn't necessarily mean the level or rank of an individual in any space, it is a matter of personality and self-respect. A lot of conditions are attached to an individual decision but above all good reputation is far better than money most especially in a decentralized space like bitcointalk where a lot of opportunities to learn from other experience members and become something good in society.
So a newbie can decide to build a reputation where an ignorant legendary will throw away his reputation just for a weekly Penny from a proven scam casino.