OP, what rank were you at when the merit system came out? I get what you're saying about earning 1000 merits the hard way, but that would mean you were--if I'm not mistaken--a Hero member in Jan. 2018. Does that sound right?
I'm starting to not be a fan of these kinds of threads anymore, especially after PrimeNumber7's. Earning 1000 merits is quite an achievement, but you didn't make your way through all the ranks by earning merits, which is what I understand is what a "self-made Legendary" means.
Yes, I was a Hero before merit system was introduced. But if I started as a newbie, I would become Legendary today. I agree that starting as a Hero would certainly give an edge over starting as a newbie, but still earning 1000 merits is something that I wanted to celebrate.
Congrats. That means you were hero when the merit started on this forum, you have earned 1001 merits from 178 users, that means you have tried, you have contributed quality posts on this forum that are beneficial to other bitcointalk users, this should be just the beginning because learning never ends while also helping people never ends.
Users who were active in the early days and then quit the forum or post very rarely likely deserve their rank as you say, but there are Legendaries who post on a daily basis and only earned a few merits in all these years. So, with reaching this milestone now I feel that my rank is truly fair.