The good news is I suspect the people able and motivated to make real contributions to our field aren't too worried about Internet points.
At least, I hope that's the case, because the Internet seems to reward easy to understand and seemingly witty over real contribution. It happens even when we're talking about actual code—I can't count the number of "X, but in JavaScript! (Because I ran X through Emscripten, which anyone could've done, but hey! I published the output first!)" projects I've seen on the front page here.
At least the person who actually wrote Emscripten got a few Internet points for the effort too.
It's worth remembering though that to some people some things matter more than money. Internet points are a cheapened version of peer recognition, and as such they might matter to some more than they logically should.
At least, I hope that's the case, because the Internet seems to reward easy to understand and seemingly witty over real contribution. It happens even when we're talking about actual code—I can't count the number of "X, but in JavaScript! (Because I ran X through Emscripten, which anyone could've done, but hey! I published the output first!)" projects I've seen on the front page here.
At least the person who actually wrote Emscripten got a few Internet points for the effort too.
It's worth remembering though that to some people some things matter more than money. Internet points are a cheapened version of peer recognition, and as such they might matter to some more than they logically should.