The participation over time that we are discussing clearly destroys any possible market value of the associated publicity

Though I personally agree, I was taken aback at the "any publicity is good publicity" opinions expressed recently in Re^3: Stop Using Perl.

After performing a casual google search just now, it seems plausible to me that a non-PM-insider would find only sundialsvc4 -- which shows 16,251 experience points spread across 3606 writeups, alongside a splendid CV. Impressive.

Remember that a non-PM-member does not see a node's rating, even a member doesn't see it until they have voted. So unless the casual searcher stumbles upon Worst Nodes, or takes the time and trouble to examine a considerable number of postings and replies in detail, they may come away with a favorable impression.