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.
You can implement this by adding a demerit button. If a member can rank up through a thousand merits, they should be demoted through a hundred De-merits. This could be open to members or assigned to moderators. You may also bestow demotion powers to intelligent reputable members like LoyceV, Yahoo62278, Notatether, Moccaccino, Logfiles, Suchmoon and others.
I share your view because most of the so-called high-ranked individuals are not just worth it, but we should also be cautious with the measures proposed. I replied to a thread yesterday relating to this demotion of a thing and I do not want to believe that it's a coordinated attempt by you guys. Regardless, I am neutral about this but would appreciate it if more vigilance is observed by members of the forum and stricter measures are taken by moderators and campaign managers. Honestly, it could be so annoying reading what some users are writing and seeing the shabby manner in which they write it as well. Guess what, these guys are in campaigns, so the campaign managers also have a lot to do in this regard. Fine, it's all about traffic for them, but thinking beyond that and specifically thinking of the sanity of the forum would go a long way in helping us all.
However, I will never support the demotion you suggested, and based on what I heard from a guy days back, the altcoin forum must have been conceiving this idea of late. Bitcointalk will not be a copycat, we are original. Aside from that, it is just too wicked and some people would use the advantage for evil purposes. It is the merit system we say is not perfect, not to talk of the DT system where tagging has been a punishing and biased tool in the hands of many wildering it. When I read and follow the reasons why some users were tagged, I get angry because it was never worth it. That's human nature for you, so don't let me get deeper into that. Enough measures have been provided already in the forum, and we can work around it. Let people continue to report those users to either their campaign managers or moderators of the sections, or both of them. It is the two that should do the needful and give reasons so that these useless posters can change their ways.
I suggest a temporary ban as well. It could be 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and so on, depending on the offence and the time such users have been initially warned.