Eh... no. Giving medals is a mere click, has nothing to do with retention. Since receiving medals means you can give more medals, it would just mean that people would hoard less and .
Or accidental click... I've given out a fair number on accident trying to click on user details. Then again I haven't gotten many in years. I guess I'm slacking off!
PS - Sirion early on was notorious for giving them out only to realm members. This has already happened
