It can be distressing to new members reading some of the posts from old members who should be knowledgeable but unfortunately bland. The quality of reasoning (and posts) of many Legendary members is appalling. This could be due to the fact that they were promoted before the introduction of the merit system or they simply bought a high-ranked account to spew rubbish on the forum.
With the rampancy of signature campaigns, the tendency for participants to type to meet quota (even if they don’t really make sense is high). This is why I think that a demotion (or demerit) button is appropriate. This would mitigate the preponderance of the disappointment in reading posts from some so-ranked Legendary sounding like it’s from a 12-year old.
As for me, i don't see the rate of these as much as we have it in newbies, most of the high rank individuals are not depreciating in knowledge for any reason, forget it, what you know you have known it, you may only choose not to go up with the current trends but the information's and knowledge there are permanently in you, go and check most of the legendary ranks account, you will discover how some of them have tirelessly worked hard in the past, there's no doubt that sometimes we feels relaxed in the way we contribute before to how we do now, but i think the merit system is also a justification on that, whereby you cant expect someone who is not active or posting quality posts to be receiving merits and incase you sighted on one, you can make an example on reputation board for others to see what's going on on merits abuse.