@joshman, I don't remember exactly where I read this recently — it may have been here on Hive — that whenever you have any system that offers some sort of "reward," abusers of that system immediately show up.

Come to think of it, I think it had to do with a gaming venue... new releases come out, and immediately a flock of vultures descend with their "cheats" and try to abuse the system. Even though there are no monetary gains. Think back to what MySpace became... a contest of how to automate the process of accumulating *as many "friends" as possible. Even Facebook had to cap the number of friends any person can have at 5,000 because people started gaming the system.

But back to your point here. People who are scammers — or just plain greedy — will go to great lengths to cover their tracks and give a grand public performance about why good citizens they are, and how what they are doing "helps" people.

They try to look like they people who are actually providing value to the system... and I have zero issue with those who are well rewarded for sincerely contributions. They may not be developers or marketers, but even a prolific blogger of quality content adds value... in terms of making a venue look like it has substance, thereby making it more attractive in the eyes of potential new members.

All of which makes me want to go away and revisit an old topic... that of quality vs value.

But yes, it is important to stay informed, rather than just blindly clicking buttons.