There is a distressing amount of DoL bots in the Diadem and it has to be stopped.

[Vaer]

Yeah, you can horde stuff to turn them in.

But there's math to this. Some how 1st place is gathering enough to have around double the amount of points as 2nd-3rd-4th place.
Just how much would someone have to gather to have 500-600K+ in a single gathering job this soon after release?

If you meet certain stat break points (usually through melding) and know how the node mechanics work you will vastly out point someone just from efficiency. Same with Fisher. When I first started I was using a really inefficient method to catch the point fish. Losing a double hook on Gobbiemask is painful.

The thing with it being a competition is that the players who are trying to hold rank are not going to tell everyone what they are doing because they don't want to be displaced. Of course, botting/account sharing is also in the realm of possibility but stats matter here, especially for gatherers. After that it's just time spent.