That time got converted into this article for which the author was presumably paid. And I would guess that the author didn’t spend the entire month on only this one thing. But maybe that’s wrong

It wouldn't be outrageous to suggest that someone who took the time to intentionally study and go into journalism, would have more than a monetary interest in "investigating things." Or that someone who had been personally scammed would have more than a monetary interest in investigating that particular scam. In other words, investigating is probably fun for her, and the added element of revenge/justice only adds more fuel to the fire.

> Maybe when we're getting yearly salaries we don't compute out the hourly cost but, man, do the math once in a while.

The math to get an approximate hourly rate from a yearly salary is really easy:

Just divide yearly salary by 2000. Thus if you make 100,000 a year, your hourly rate is approximately 50.

Heh, you know, the funny part is that I'll spend just a little extra on my hotel stays (Meaning, I'm not staying at the Howard Johnson's behind Walmart, even if it is $40 a night). I've never had very few bad experiences as a result.

It costs money to run a hotel well. From the front desk to the cleaning staff. If a stay costs you $40 a night, you have to ask yourself "What are they skimping on? Are they not washing the sheets? Vacuuming? Cleaning the showers/toilets?"

Sure, there are some economies of scale at play. But by and large, it takes quite a bit of money to make sure things are well maintained. That is what often gets reflected in your hotel bill.

This person is a journalist and wrote a successful trending news article about it (seriously -- #1 on Twitter right now). You should consider this part of their job, not free time wasted.

If everyone knows you can rob or scam me for $50 and I'll hand it over and not go to the cops (because doing so isn't worth my time) there's really no downside to robbing or scamming me.

On the other hand, if everyone knows when robbed or scammed I will doggedly pursue every avenue until a much higher price has been extracted from the robbers or scammers, the downside is nonzero.

Well you’re not getting paid more when it’s on your free time.