The Online Scoreboards have gained a lot of popularity over the past few years from both casual and serious competitors. Many say that seeing where everyone stands during the contest motivates them to stay in the chair and keep pushing to chase the next guy above them on the board. Anything to promote more people on the bands is a good thing.
I look at it differently, and have never or will ever use it. Contests are a competition, and there's no way I'm going to let any of my competitors know how I'm doing and give them info like qso/mult totals, off-times, etc. to motivate them. Personally, I'm motivated by wondering how my competition is doing. I'll operate, you operate, and we'll see who does better. We can exchange logs, numbers and stories after the contest. In the last 10 yrs or so, contesting took a left turn and became transparent about everything. I'm all in favor of sharing information but AFTER the contest.
There's been talk about if sponsors should require competitors use the online scoreboard, but it hasn't gained much traction. If it was ever required, I would stop sending in my log, not even a check log, and just compete for myself.