I think you spotted one core problem: Many people mix up XDA with Facebook. IMHO the Thank-O-Meter is part of that problem. How is this any different to Facebook? You get "likes" for good posts. I think the idea of the Thank-O-Meter was to have useful development posts highlighted. In reality posts like ETA announcements, screenshots, etc. are "liked" much because they ignite hope for a sooner release of something.
The implicit problem here is that
a) Developers are encouraged to tease the "crowd"
b) The "crowd" gets a reward from these teasers (i.e. they are excited)
c) The "crowd" sees the developer as a kind of "god" who will one day release something to be their "saviour".
d) The developer gets a reward from the flattering of the "crowd" (like on Facebook).
a)->b)->c)->d) form a perfect Thank-O-Meter loop here IMHO.
^------------/
If you look closely you see that the above loop focuses on one person or at least one group while ignoring others. This developer is encouraged to keep his sources closed for as long as possible while getting more and more prestige for his "contribution". The crowd gets a new release while the developer is flattered more and more. He will not release his sources because then he is not "god" anymore.
Every new release == more flattering => more rewards for both sides.
Obviously the developer wants to release as often as possible, which highlights the next implicit problem I see: Not doing things properly..
The more I browse on GitHub the more I see stolen commits that were just copied instead of "git cherry-pick"ed. Why is that so? Well, developers are encouraged to deliver FAST but not properly. Of course it's easier for a beginner to just go to GitHub via browser, use CTRL+C/CTRL+V, git commit, push, voilá. The resulting binary is the same, but it's not the proper git workflow and credits/GPL are violated.
Another good example for not doing things properly is SELinux. How many so called stable (!) ROMs out there are SELinux permissive? Why should you tailor an SELinux context if you can just set it to permissive and it works. Do you even know what SELinux is!? The average Joe probably doesn't know and doesn't care. You as a developer have the responsibilty to make the device at least as secure as the stock ROM though!!
Conclusion:
It's always easy to rant about "the crowd" being retards or developers hiding sources. If you ask me these things are only symptoms of a bigger problem though: A very reward-driven culture that is implemented on XDA and in the internet more and more. The "user" wants it NOW and he doesn't want to THINK much about anything, it should just work. The developer wants to get hyped NOW! It's not about the device but about his ego.
Surely it's a great thing to have rules like "Do not ask for ETA" but they contradict the current implementation of XDA (Thank-O-Meter/Donation-Button).
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