It is truly fascinating. From my short lived experiment, I've discovered that as long I'm playing the role of performer, actually working, and not being shady street beggar, people do not have a problem seeing money sitting out. They don't mind adding to the pile, provided they've been entertained.
You can watch those abusing the self votes. Notice how they will vote up bland, meaningless comments. Nobody is coming along to add to the pile. Nobody wants to help someone that appears as if they don't need it. They wouldn't last a second out there on the street being a shady street beggar. I don't see them having much of a future.
Agreed. Those who only think short term here don't last. I've been here a year as of today (my first post was 365 days ago, July 6th). Take a look at my wallet and you'll see I've done well because of consistently working to add real value.
Though my approach is clearly much different than yours, the results were similar. There's no other place that I know of in the entire online world where I'd be able to make that much money doing what I do. I took a small amount out to begin trading, broaden my horizons, that's been going well too. This is all one big long term investment though. When I do see people thinking selfishly and looking for instant gratification, I can't help but be concerned. If people like me (artists, entertainers) have to go back into the holes created by the industry to control who does what and how, that's a sad day. If it's because of a few selfish people, that might be an angry day as well.