This has only happened to me in two situations, Lynn: 1. I’m one of the new writers on a publication and they’re promoting me, 2. One of the writers I’m friends with is responding to a prompt (like “Write a poem about fire) and is encouraging me to play along because they like my work and want to see what I come up with. In both cases, I’m delighted. So there are good reasons to do it and good reasons to respond. You’re right though. Sometimes it’s just a sneaky way to solicit reads.