@aburka I believe many fuel rats do the thing as a primary reason to play the game, yes. Rats provide their own fuel, once you're past the very early stage of playing the cost of fuel is effectively zero so it's not much of a hardship, the trouble is just being in a location where you can buy/scoop the stuff.
So, more like experienced players (== fairly wealthy, owning fast ships that are ideal for ratting) donating their time and resources to give a leg up to others.
@aburka At least back in the day, very new players were common clients of the fuel rats, because if you're newer to the game your jump range and fuel capacity is lower, and you've not yet internalized the reflex to manage fuel properly. And so, new players run themselves out of fuel fairly frequently. I used to think of the fuel rat volunteers as people who experienced that back in the day, and are giving other players the leg up they got themselves from the fuel rats back in the day.