There's no end of people who have such low morals they'll exploit any situation for their personal gain; such cynicism (or realism) is born by contact with such people and their actions.

People who would do the exploitation can also be inclined to expect others to be sociopaths.

Not really. In a world where self interest is put above most things. It's pretty difficult to not be at least a little cynical.

It's a cynicism born of experience when it comes to crowdfunding.

The outrageous things people do in real life makes the cynicism of HN seem trivial.