Joining the Bitcointalk forum can help you learn more about Bitcoin technology, Bitcointalk can also be a place for business to seek profit from activities carried out in the forum. If the motivation for joining the forum is only to make money, it is very difficult to do because of limited knowledge, but if the goal is to seek knowledge by utilizing all the information that has been spread in the forum, then both can be obtained. It takes time, process and knowledge to earn income on forums.
If you are joining a forum as impactful as the bitcointalk on the basis of making money, I presume you're coming into the forum with a bad impression in my own opinion and what that also means is that you will probably end up not achieving your goals. Bitcointalk is an online encyclopedia of knowledge about bitcoin and other crypto related discussions. It's an environment where you learn about technical knowledge of how the bitcoin works through information you get from other experienced members here. What this also means to me is that you have to have interest in the cryptocurrency world before you join the forum else you might end up not enjoying your moment here.
Forum new users can focus on learning and expressing their ideas, knowledge through posts to help other members. It will make new forum members are more valuable for forum community, and it will help them receiving merit and ranking up.
Gaining higher forum ranks will bring opportunity to join signature campaigns and getting earnings, but it's only one way of earning money here. Users can get jobs and get payments too, and they have to learn, have skills to find jobs from Bitcoin and cryptocurrency companies.
Bitcointalk forum have tried to spicy up things through the initiative of ranking up and earning merits. These two features of the forum brought about the motivation and fun in it and by extension, got into the employment aspect of joining campaigns and earning some bucks as incentives.
I believe if the sole intention of the creators of these forum were to make people billionaires, they have the capacity to curate initiatives to enrich members, but instead of seeing it as a money making platform, it is seen as an encyclopedia of knowledge sharing platform to me but with the unique initiative of making money as an incentive too which makes it more motivational.