As a developer i'm either going to rapid fire trivial/homework-esque algorithms or build simple wrappers around already implemented complex solutions (e.g., https://algorithmia.com/algorithms/kenny/WekaCluster) for minimal time spent per solution.

As an academic there's little to no information per solution that would make me trust the implementation is going to work for my purposes. I get that this site has weka and opencv, etc on their servers so i don't have to run it on my computer...but how does that change the game exactly? Professors that don't have the interest or time to setup and install opencv usually have their students do this legwork, and instead take the role of mentor.

There's definitely draw in uploading something i've already implemented/taken the time to learn for someone else to try out... I'd like to think such pursuits would eventually lead to a large set of good work, but in reality it seems like elance for homework solutions.