Maybe, but upvoted by real users hence if the recco is not exciting then it gets suppressed. As far as OBO, I share your concern since I'm a real person too but I see a benefit in sharing knowledge and allowing the creator to focus on collecting it rather than creating it. Well, it's as they put it, a personal choice. Thanks for the comment.

thats fair - i do consider myself a synthetic user too, so that jives with your research