viggen - 4:06 pm on Sep 17, 2011 (gmt 0)

3. Google has had thousands of human quality raters checking the SERPs for years long before Panda. If that army as grown lately as you say (please share the source for that information) it may also have to do with their new focus on scraper sites.

I dont know about thousands, but i do know about hundreds and their quality is more than questionable, I participate in their programs once in a while. At freelance outlets they hire for a few dollars. I hang out there too, because the insight you get there you cant buy for money. (I participated for example recently in a Google Maps project too, and mostly people from Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Phillipines were rating Google Map serps from Germany ) and no I never had to sign a NDA..., and at one freelance site (starts with an o and ends with a k) they claim to be the biggest employer...

just saying...