This is a pretty common tactic, wether or not they used it or not, is debateable, i guess thats what makes it such a strong tactic. In your article you mentioned satoshi owning alot of btc, but he also told others about it, just no one else joined in. With steemit, mining wasnt a new topic and people were ready to do so, and even tried, the developers rolled back and started over because they didnt get enough the first time. Kinda shady, but -shrug-.