@Ted Clayton - Well, I would hope that people read the articles and then get the urge to share them, which is why I have my buttons at the bottom of the post. But, it wouldn't surprise me at all if people share stuff and don't even read it. I've been known to do that from time to time on Twitter with retweets.

However, I will never turn the content section of the site too look like a Nascar sponsored vehicle. It seems like what you're saying is that my needs and wants in a social button plugin are the minority, not the majority.