I always thought the donation of 100k to the reward pool was simply a temporal marketing strategy to boost SN user-base. It can't be sustainable in the long run. So far I understand it will be replaced by a score system in the near future, which I think is not only correct but will keep incentives equally high, for some people even pay to have recognition, as with the cowboy hat.
I donate whatever my cowboy hat streak is at. When @k00b forgets to drop the 100k on us, it at least disproves Darth's theory about getting back more than you donate.
Any projects that scales has "ambassadors", those early users who were part of buidling it, who knows it in & out, and who are loyal even when things get bumpy...
This is on my mind quite often, especially since SN has been my own, private "incubator" for writing and linking to content that is on the edge, and which actually carries some potential risk for me, especially since I've decided to start doing videos for real.
I'll get around to that, but for now I need to buidl my own base users and supporters, as well as getting out of this country permanently...