On my experience, it was not a waste of time. It was a waste of time when you joined a scam bounty. But it was a blessing as well for me because I was able to rank-up to Full member using that account. Now its really hard to be a full member because of merit system.  We were also able to earn around 10,000 USD for a period of 6 months doing bounty program. It's a blessing and not a waste of time.