I heard once about a tire shop that drummed up business by strewing nails along the highway around it. Somewhere outside America; India or Thailand or somewhere else. Anyway, that kind of business practice wouldn't get you far in the Western world, so it seems unlikely.
OTOH, if I had a botnet and I wanted to see how powerfully it could DDOS without drawing a lot of mainstream media attention, github might be good for target practice. They have better infrastructure than most, and they always do detailed write-ups afterwards.
OT: the urban legend about tire shops putting nails in the neighborhoods' is very widespread. I have heard about it in at least three countries, and I recall my school teacher telling me about it in '91.
I sort of expect it wouldn't be an effective practice anywhere.
It's an urban legend until you actually catch a nail and there is a tire shop conveniently located not 100 yards away. True story, Indian reservation in BC, Canada. Who cares if it's a tacky business model or an urban legend. It works.