It's true that the metrics used in this story could lead to being exploited. But the value of the initiative is not in the specific method used to donate, but in the idea of finding worthy yet non-obvious projects to donate and in leading by example.
If the initiative catches on, the community can find better, harder-to-exploit methods to find deserving targets, as for example it has happend with NGOs. This idea could create a healthy ecosystem that supports FLOSS software, just like the idea of a stock exchange supported the emergence of public traded corporations in the XVIII and XIX centuries.
