This is the kind of thing we're trying to avoid. It's fine to give LUV to a friend and they give it back. Sometimes it becomes obvious that people are just mining LUV though. The goal to share love on the chain, not to mine LUV on the chain. "Big problem?" I'd say no, 99% of the time I think the LUV shared is heartfelt. But it is a problem at times. And yes, I agree, "It seems like a lot of effort for minimal payout, to be honest."
Yeah it's not good that people would be trying to mine it. I only recently discovered the tokens that can be tipped for free to people per day. I think it's great for someone like me who's vote doesn't have a lot of weight, these tokens though give a good chance to spread some better rewards for things I like.