The problems with goal-directedness: it might actually matter how you get 'there'; and 'there' might not mean the same thing to everyone. In fact my wikimeet experience convinces me that the 'there' is not a large factor in people's motivation. They want the process to be fun, as in lively, making light of hassles, rewarding, that kind of thing. They want 'can do' as an attitude, but certainly not 'suits' and too much business talk. And these are the folk who actually write for hours, for nothing, to post the pages and turn the red links blue.
Interesting, you have somehow linked the discussion about ads with the discussion about userboxes. Are ads and userboxes the two extremes of a "the end" vs "the means" dichotomy?
Steve