Fair enough! I guess my take here is that I see this "pay to get your replies boosted or in front of more people" is roughly the same as "pay to feel important

Fair enough! I guess my take here is that I see this "pay to get your replies boosted or in front of more people" is roughly the same as "pay to feel important" in my mind... I think they do know what they're doing, and they are trying to prey on the people who want to feel important on social media but can't get there organically, so will pay to do so, more for their own satisfaction than anything else.. But that's just my take! We can have many takes among us. :-)