Thanks to your explanation, I understand the reward system better. I need to research and study more to fully understand it. I'm sure there are quite a few people who have mastered it perfectly (it's true that you learn something new every day).

Yes. Most mechanics on SN are rooted in game theory.

Note that the current state isn't the final state. Things may change, so what I describe above is valid now, but if it is being abused or a new feature is launched, changes can be made to it.

I did find an earlier, much more complete explanation post, but its outdated, so I decided to not link it. It will only confuse people. I'll look into who and how that can be updated.

optimism

This ranking is interesting, since it's like predicting what will be most popular before it actually is. This metric is well thought out; I suppose it's to prevent fraud.