Well, you won your merit badge, thats the main thing. I can't help feeling using mechanical turk was logistically the same as buying the karma: you could have paid them to do things which either directly or almost directly earned you the score, not just grading inputs. But I don't mean to quibble: it was an interesting/entertaining read!

I think if you'd gone into an investment space, you might have earned the score faster by virtue of earning other people money from your picks.