1 – I ignore these posts. To me they seem more of a waste of time than anything else. I mean if the poster is not able to come up with a summary in his own words, and/or some sort of opinion on the content, I can’t see much point to it. More often than not, it’s a “merit bait” post, where one may overlook the link and at a quick glance and merit the post.

2- There are some decent current hybrid cases that balance social reports with good posts. As you say, the reports only pollute the history track on the posters profile, but it does not give out great signs of really wanting to contribute here (equilibrated exceptions aside). Since last week, what we are seeing more often is people turning a full 180 degrees on their posting habits, going from 90%-100% social reporting to plain regular posting, some of them may even be decent. In these cases I’d rather wait, and if the trend continues and we cross paths again, I may merit the him further down the road. What I don’t want is to reward a momentary change of attitude, and my doubts there can only be dissipated over a larger period of time.