that somebody is a dev in pre-alpha, before the game was really open. in case you couldn't tell by the headshot-in-a-clown-wig-photo-avatar of the techcrunch guy... ;)
eta: but on topic, i like the idea of more actions that are only possible when a certain buff is active!
Ah yep that is definitely an ancient image. You were so lucky to have joined Glitch THAT early though; I didn't even know about this game until last October!