I think it depends on how much the author in question cares about the social norms of Steemit. They are the main "thing" at odds with maximizing one's investment.
The fact remains that the game-theoretically best way to make money on Steem (for minimal effort, non-authors) remains upvoting your own hidden comments with high stake. Unless something changes in the code, or all abuse spontaneously stops, this is a situation we're going to have to live with. Given the anarchist leanings around here, it may be that these authors are simply (selfishly) making the correct game theory decisions for operating on the platform, as it currently stands.
Interestingly, I noticed some of the accounts in question upvoted your post, like Snowflake.