There's also evidence of similar behavior right here on GTP, because there was a several year period where
this forum had a very similar phenomenon. As soon as someone saw even an inkling of a car existing (even if it was something like a clay model shown off at an auto show or something reposted on the main page of Supercars.net) they would rush into that forum and throw up a thread with the entire website they saw plagiarized into the OP (usually even copying the wildly different formatting from the rest of their post) and
maybe two pictures; then the entire rest of their post would be links to other threads they made where they did the same thing so their buddies (who also all did the same thing) could make sure they checked every one those out to slowchat and like farm each other in each one. Their "suggestions" would have wrong specs, be written in a different voice from thread to thread (because they were just copying entire articles they found on the internet), have the wrong car names (because they made the thread before the official name was announced or they misread the one part of the article they skimmed before copying the entire thing into their post) and sometimes wouldn't be for cars that even existed (I recall a couple threads being posted for cars that were rumored to be announced at upcoming auto shows and then never actually did). They didn't care because actually suggesting cars for the future of the franchise wasn't why they were posting. Farming post and like counts was.
I remember at one point people were posting threads for things like "This is an R35 GT-R except it has a different rear spoiler" or "Here's a C1 Corvette except it has a rare optional piece of chrome on it" and each OP would get flooded with likes by the same 15-20 people and derision from everyone else.