I do remember that badge, but I could
swear that it was only a couple of years ago when the idea was implemented. You're right, time certainly does fly (and to you young'ins, the perception of time zipping away from you only gets stronger as you age--trust me).
Frankly I don't know why I bother doing the reports, other than it gives me a personal satisfaction to see absolutely shitty posts get deleted. Bonus satisfaction points if they would have counted toward that week's sig campaign payment.
Even if you do it for that reason, you're still helping the forum when those shitposts get erased forever. If enough people report shitposts and other issues, the benefits add up. I don't know how many posts I reported this year, but it was probably more than the past two years combined. I don't have as much fire in my belly as I did back in 2016-17, but when I see a generic, poorly-written post I hit that report button speedily and with no hesitation. The merit system has helped clean up the worst of the mess we had pre-2018, but the problem of members making zero-value posts to make money lingers on.
I don't know the real reason why the admin doesn't do it anymore, but if it's just a lack of time, can that task be transferred to the global moderator @hilariousandco who is active in the posting
Monthly Report Statistics?
Wish I had an answer to that, but I'm not a staff member and have no clue what goes on behind the scenes. You'd think it'd be a simple fix like the one you described, but I suspect Theymos has his reasons for not acknowledging reporters publicly. I couldn't even hazard a guess what those reasons are, though.