Its gradually becoming a norm and it wouldn't help the forum grow. Most newbies give up after been active for long without a single merit to show for. Pls it would be better you encourage than making newbies feel its wrong to earn from this site.
If I may ask if you weren't earning would you still be active here?
If they give up that easily it's good as it take away another set of individuals that would had been constantly spamming the forum so they get the peanut they get paid for such acts. If you watch closely the forum has been in existence for a long time. We had users that were actively participating in the forum even when bitcoin wasn't in the mainstream media to be worth this much. The forum was built in passion and love for discussing bitcoin and not the monetary features we're benefiting today.
Don't see the forum as a money making platform if not it'll end up badly for you because you might be tempted into doing things that'll likely leave you a bad reputation or end you on the ban list. Engage in conversation and getting of merit won't be that hard. The conversation should be genuine though and not the copy and paste (obviously with source or summary) we see everyday from users hurting for merits in the forum.
I was actively participating on the forum for months/year without benefiting anything in regards to monetary value. I joined my first campaign when I was a full member but this day the new set of community users don't have the patience and zeal to learn they want the quick bucks which ends badly for them.