I just had a situation in a 10+1 SNG on PP where there were 4 players left and I was called an idiot for not checking on the bubble to increase the odds of knocking the low stack out. Here is the hand in question:

200/400 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 14148970) - Fri Jul 22 04:02:29 EDT 2005
Table Table 35338 (Real Money) -- Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 3: Im_an_ogre (535)
Seat 6: cablevision (3075)
Seat 8: Hero (2455)
Seat 10: yepikim (1935)
Im_an_ogre posts small blind (100)
cablevision posts big blind (200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Kh, Ac ]
Hero raises (400) to 400
yepikim folds.
Im_an_ogre raises (435) to 535
Im_an_ogre is all-In.
cablevision calls (335)
Hero calls (135)
Creating Main Pot with $1605 with Im_an_ogre
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ks, 3d, 9d ]
yepikim: check check it
cablevision checks.
yepikim: check it
yepikim:check
Hero bets (1920)
Hero is all-In.
cablevision folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5h ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Qc ]
Creating Side Pot 1 with $1920 with Hero
** Summary **
Main Pot: 1605 | Side Pot 1: 1920
Board: [ Ks 3d 9d 5h Qc ]
Im_an_ogre balance 0, lost 535 [ 4d 4c ] [ a pair of fours -- Ks,Qc,9d,4d,4c ]
cablevision balance 2540, lost 535 (folded)
Hero balance 3525, bet 2455, collected 3525, net +1070 [ Kh Ac ] [ a pair of kings -- Ac,Kh,Ks,Qc,9d ]
yepikim balance 1935, didn't bet (folded)

Here is the dialogue that followed:
yepikim: idiot
cablevision: I agree
Hero: me?
yepikim: yes
Hero: im trying to win
Hero: not come in the money
Hero: if you wanna be bubble players then fine
cablevision: winning is finishing in the money
Hero: um, no
Hero: its personal preference

Was I wrong for trying to win, instead of just checking to the river so that one of us at least could knock out the 4th place? If I had a marginal hand I would have, but not for the reason they wanted me to, but for the reason of it being a bad hand. I had AK with top pair after the river and I am supposed to play timid. Should I have played it safe to increase the odds of us taking out that player? In my opinion, no I wasn't. I think that was proven by the fact that I ended up winning the SNG for my first win at the $10 level.

Any input into this strategy or etiquette issue would be greatly appreciated. Maybe I am just totally unaware.