Just an excercise in free and anonymous market strategies:
If operators of SR were selfish assholes (they seem to be nice folks, but let's forget that for now), they would absolutely start a fake competitor, then scam users and vanish. They get free press (every Atlantis article mentions SR), they get coins, they distract the authorities and divert their resources, and they make themselves look great in comparison.
EDIT - in the light of revelations from the FBI files, the chief operator of SR was a total ass. Murder-for-hire level ass. Just saying. He had all these memorable quotes, all while being a total ass. Not as bad, deceptive, and murderous as a typical president of his country, but still.