I actually went to chat in order to talk with you and then just before clicking on your name I thought to check and see if you'd written a post first. This could have been titled "Who's wearing a mask?" Though "Who is not wearing a mask?" would be a much shorter list. We have been trained since childhood to wear them. By everyone who was in a position of authority above us, including our parents, even though many of them didn't realize this is what they were doing. The more 'civilized' we have become, the more masks we wear. When we were young we were taught manners and to be polite, most recently being politically correct has become the ideal of what makes one civilized.

I think the one thing you don't take into account in this article is that a lot of people have no idea that they're being disingenuine. They don't spend time examining themselves and their motivations, most of the things they believe in are based on a brainwashing so subtle and pervasive they think it comes from within. It makes me think of the scene about the mirror in the Neverending story:
Engywook: Next is the Magic Mirror Gate. Atreyu has to face his true self.
Falcor: So what? That won't be too hard for him.
Engywook: Oh, that's what everyone thinks! But kind people find out that they are cruel. Brave men discover that they are really cowards! Confronted by their true selves, most men run away screaming!

I used to think about these things a lot, and the more I looked, really looked, the more disheartening it became as I realized most people wear masks a large majority of the time. Worse than that, many don't seem to know it, or they don't face it. They are not honest with themselves which makes it impossible for them to be truly honest in any context.
A kind of depression settled over me at the height of this time period, until I realized a few things. The first was that their journey is not mine. Whether they lie to themselves or just to others, whatever it is 'they' do, is not my concern. Only what I do truly matters, because mine is the only mind, heart, soul that I can truly know one hundred percent. I can know others very well, over ninety percent maybe even as much as ninety nine percent (maybe), but never a hundred. Which led to other understandings such as the things I determine about another, since I can never know them one hundred percent, means that I can't be one hundred percent accurate in my determinations. In which case I am simply judging them, and without total knowledge that judgment is flawed. That might not have stopped me from doing it completely, but it did make me aware that I could be wrong and generally I will toss the judgment away once I remember this, again, and again. Another part of human nature, we can have brilliant realizations and yet not live up to them all of the time. One of the truest sayings there is "We are all, every one of us, imperfect."
Certainly there is a division between those who are self-aware and those who are not. Those who examine themselves and take personal responsibility for everything that they do, and those that spend their time judging what others do and blaming everyone and everything else for their actions, their lots in life.
Which brings me to where I am now. The people I, almost without exception, choose to get close to are those in that first category. And they are flawed, just as I am, but they know they are and they work to better themselves. I'm not sure I can ask anything more of someone on this plane. And really the only one I should be asking more of is myself anyway.
You are right though, about the way this is set up as far as the monetary incentive. Most certainly it encourages people to reach out to others who might benefit them in some way. This is the way I view it: New people might take a look at my followers list, the pay out on my posts, not a large but a decent amount of sp, and decide to pursue me because of it.Some like you said, are obvious as they say "Great post, please follow me", other, more savvy individuals, take time to read and say 'the right things'. And....so fucking what? Really. In fact I see it exactly the opposite way as you do--they're giving me a chance to lend them a hand. Just because they might be working under a 'what's in it for me' mentality, doesn't mean I can't work under a "what can I do for you brother" mentality. And ultimately you have no idea of the affect you will have on someone. How you might inspire them. And you may not ever know if you truly have, but do you have to know? Again it goes back to only being able to know ourselves completely and the reasons that we do things.
On the other side of it, if I go to a post of someone who can benefit me, I've afforded them a chance to lend me a hand. Now I'm not going to jump into a post about things that are in complete opposition to my own set of beliefs and pretend I agree with them in order to gain favor, but yes there are those who will do that. Trying to constantly determine if that's the case is futile and exhausting, for one, and also it's their bad, not yours. If they come under false pretenses and you help them out because they're convincing, do you really think that this falls on you somehow? No. Be true to thine ownself...Scott..., it will help you tremendously if you stop worrying about whether others are doing the same.

Maybe, one day, the majority of people on earth will be the kind with "the what can I do for you" mentality, the kind that examine their own hearts and minds and don't sit in judgment of others. Maybe we will get to that cashless place where every need is met and we all spend our time creating, learning, and having empathy for everyone around us. Maybe it could happen here. Or maybe once you've reached that place of enlightenment here then when this body dies you no longer have to repeat this place, you instead graduate to a plane where this IS the way people are. A place where there is no more wars and no more greed and no more vies for power. Because those that are there are beyond such things.
The only thing I can say for certain at this time is that if it is possible for it to happen here, as a whole we are still pretty far from it. So for now I look at this way-what we can do is sow seeds for future generations. We can leave behind words like these for others to read and maybe help them on their own journey.