My quote also claims the developers gave poor mining instructions.
For me, this was the greatest part of the launch. It was not some easy clone that I could just click the mouse a few times and instamine the fuck out of it. It was like a puzzle. After I figured out the mining, I tried to help others get started, but even with detailed step-by-step guide, most could not get going. Hindsight, I wish I had rented tons more servers, and kept them running until the end. But, like you said:
First, being used to so many launch shenanigans from other coins, I, like most other miners, am quick to throw around the word "scam".
On the first day(after re-launch) I was pretty sure it was a quick scam. I should have known better after digging through the code, but in the cesspool that is the ALT ANN section of BitcoinTalk, you can never be too careful.