DISCLAIMER: I LOVE KTB. One of the GOATS of this website and one of the first people to put me on. That said let me tell you why I think he might be. Thanks to FijianThunder for opening my eyes in a sense. Most of my reasons that Im going to be explaining come from his original argument.
There is a common tendency to overvalue creators like KTB, but I find their approach somewhat overrated. While KTB was undoubtedly a great user, his strategy relied heavily on posting every day, low-effort content—specifically spamming grids, polls, and basic trades—to inflate his (GM) score. This isn't me being biased or calling him a fraud. But once again, he had so many series and he would just pump out content every day. In my opinion, I value depth over frequency.
Some statistics Fijian brought up: For instance, KTB averaged nearly 170 posts a month. When you produce at that volume, it is basically impossible to maintain high quality such as FijianThunder, Corey, and more. This mass posting format is likely why KTB eventually burnt out and left Fanspo, besides the high school stuff.
Another thing I want to mention. Viking or Waynoe represent a better standard. Even if they occasionally use polls or grids, their primary focus remains on detailed, well-thought-out posts. I believe a top-tier creator should be defined by how good they're post are rather than the Gm Score.
I'll quote Fijian's response to this since his reasoning is a bit better than mines in a sense
KTB's a great person, however I don't think his content would justify him as a top 15 user. If you filter through his top posts, it's his farewell post, a trade with no description, fanspo poll on top #100 players, Quote flame on a post to get someone banned and more similar posts. 64 views per post which isn't bad but comparing to top users is very little especially considering a large number of views are on select posts. Guys like Kawntent, spend enough time on their posts that when you read, look at them it's genuinely something worth checking out. For someone like Kuminga to be posting 10/20 times per day, I just wonder how you can feel like your posts fulfill the quality it needs for other people to check it out. Im not hating on GM Score farming, because people on fanspo have different goals. Some people may want to make detailed high quality posts whereas, guys like KTB want to rise in GM score. You've summarized it really well, and I'd like to add, KTB always, posted and created content to rise in GM score rather than, posting to "engage consumers" KTB's posts are pretty much short dopamine boosts, as he posts content such as grids which well, there is no easy way to post high quality grids, and I'd assume KTB realized it's a great way to get GM score, because I'll admit. If i'm viewing a trade with no description, I won't really comment or like it because it's lacking detail and I'm not 100% on the creators intention, whereas if I see a grid with no description, I'll still fill it out and comment, because that's the nature of grids. Not everyone will agree with me on this but even polls, as good as they may be are an easy way to get GM Score, and I'm inclined to believe KTB did them to benefit his gm score, due to the lack of work it requires, and the high interactivity rates. Btw I'm not claiming poll makers are GM score farmers, as guys like Surge do a great job, and create them for the purpose, however I feel like KTB did it for the gm score.
There's something I like to call the Algorithm trap, and I really didn't know how to explain it. So bear with me. Most social platforms and community leaderboards reward "Recency and Frequency." If a creator doesn't post daily, the system often stops showing their content to fans. This has happened with me and look at what happened with JOSHHART4MVP. Once a big creator, now even if he post every day, he can never gain the clout he had 3-7 months ago. But when guys like Joshhart fall, it forces creators like For example Surge or KTB into a "hamster wheel" where they feel they must post content just to stay visible.
My main point: We as a community should learn how to make more detailed post. Even if that means losing out on a couple of Gm score points.
Much love, jmg