I've stated elsewhere that my goal was to cause people to think a bit about how group dynamics work before they either join or attempt to start a group. I further pointed to a very good book, The Logic of Collective Action, which has a lot of very useful things to say about why real group behaviour falls short of the ideals we would like it to reach. If I got someone interested in reading that book, that's worthwhile to me.

About rank and presence, it doesn't even mean as much as you think it does. With the various voting changes I do not know what the exact rate is. But I know that if you show up every day and vote religiously, you will get onto Saints in our Book in just a few years without having to post anything!

Oh, and about making it more difficult for him to succeed. Since I already judged his odds to be close to non-existent, my posts have made at most a minor incremental difference.