I might troll a guy but personally I wouldn't and haven't baseraped or stabbed anyone in the back seriously, maybe that makes me a pansy (I prefer to think loyal :p maybe trustable), but in the case of baseraping a noob, you gain almost nothing and deter someone from playing further, if you baserape a friend you become known as that guy (who values himself first and cant be trusted), and if you baserape a faction mate or faction in general you are just cutting into time and effort spent by others for immediate self gain and risk being ostracized.
Those are/were my motivations anyway.. Plus the wipe argument, what value do any rare items really have unless you use them (more than your reputation?).
Do everything important alone, search alone, gain more alone, risk less alone, only use others when you have to. :\
I don't see how the pve guys make it very far, that's a lonely existence in an MMO, most interactions are players shooting you, tricking you or chatting at the hub