I totally agree that everyone should do their own project analysis. I participated in the bounty for 3 years and I must admit that roughly half of this time, is time wasted. So for about 1.5 years I participated in the bounty without receiving anything, or just receiving worthless tokens. Half of this half is just scams. I always try to carefully check the project I am joining, but I am not an expert.
It is possible that more legendary members reduce the risk, but it certainly does not eliminate it. It is always best to do it yourself and trust only your own research.
The only thing I would advise, altcoin bounty is already dead since 2018 and I'm not hoping to earn any amount on that kind of campaign. Even you do a project analysis, some projects are too good to be true and can easily trick participants so you can't say if they will pay or not. I've spent 1 year in altcoin bounty and half of it is worth it, I'm a participants of primal base, which is alternative asset that is made by vitalik (founder of eth) and I've also participated in some famous altcoins that are already on the top now and received a good bounty from them. The half the year was pure scams and failed projects.
I'm very lucky that I didn't focus on such bounties because, at the same time, I'm learning and making a good reputation. That's the reason why ranked up into Hero Member from Full member. So it's better to invest in knowledge too while doing bounties.