While I am sure many people have weak passwords, I am not convinced that the RockYou passwords are exactly a microcosm of the current state of password strength

While I am sure many people have weak passwords, I am not convinced that the RockYou passwords are exactly a microcosm of the current state of password strength. RockYou always seemed somewhat scammy, so I would say it's possible many people merely used generic passwords out of fear of RockYou someday exploiting them.