you see a lot of people that find bugs, and even serious exploits that never bother going to the trouble to report them, or crow about them publicly.

Just because nobody said anything, doesn't mean that nobody knew.

I went through this as well, but it turns out that an outside perspective is all that is required to noticing that something is unusual or not right.

Don't underestimate what you may consider to be normal or obvious, as it may not be to others.