It's not cult, but when money is in game people start to act different. Greed I would say. On the other side you think this way: I can vote 40 times per day, so I need to read 40 posts and then write at least 40 comments. But I have my life to live also. I have full time job, 6 days a week, I need to eat and sleep....
I like to upvote and help newcomers and also get some rewards- I hate bots. It's just impossible to do all that work. Hope you understand other aspect.
I kindof forgot to get into the phsycological effects of money being involved, but yes greed is here for sure. And Yeah I don't expect everyone who votes to comment, I do that all the time. But atleast some-one especially when there is this greedy money attached to a post. $20 on 1post is awesome in my eyes, but with that money I would expect some "social" interaction from the post, not just the money. Hope that made sense. Thank you for commenting. I'm surprised, maybe I spoke to soon about the interaction piece...
You see. Not as bad as you think. I'd read couple of days ago in Venezuela monthly pay is 24 $. Imagine if some guy get 20 $ per post?