My opinion won't be swayed. Roary has already posted my opinion.
To reiterate: the point of participation ranks is to keep people participating. If we make them permanent, people will go section by section earning them and then the participation will drop. You can argue all you like but this is what happens. When it comes to MiniRanks, all people want is to collect them.
The participation MiniRanks were designed by Sythe himself for this very purpose. If you disagree with me, you need to bring this issue to his attention and see what he thinks.