Hi @oldsoulnewb,
a refreshing view that you rarely hear, you offer.
I would go further and attest failure to all online platforms, the more global they are. Or a failure to appear to the masses in the first place. Why do I think that? Because "social" and "media" don't mix, or only in places where no one is really interested in making money in the first place, but in having fun or exchanging ideas or philosophising with each other or talking about - what do I know - fishing.
Anyone who comes here with the intention that the whole thing has to become as "big" as the role models FB, YT, etc., has not even considered why people go anywhere in the first place: Because they are well entertained and have fun. Making money would be one thing, like a potential in the background, something that comes about rather by chance, but not because you want to bang the door down already.
A business that succeeded was not run by someone who was desperate to get rich doing it, but by someone who tried something, was curious or enjoyed what they were doing. Of course, there are always idiots who steal a good idea and the whole thing initially runs successfully, but the idiots then manage to ruin it.
That's why I see it like you: the masses ruin it because the masses, due to experience and the existence of the big channels, have become accustomed to something that can be seen critically: a Roman thumbs-up and thumbs-down culture that in real Rome was probably only practised in the Collosseum, but not in the minds of global citizens (... but ... when I think about it, it probably WAS, lol).
The many clashing cultures and also life experiences of the people here on Hive and elsewhere make understanding difficult. But if one's livelihood depends on it (or one imagines that it does) or if making money comes first, cooperation is even more difficult or impossible than it already is under real conditions in the real world.
Why should one trust anyone here at all whom one has never seen, never smelled, never shaken hands with and whose real name one probably does not know? So you don't trust anyone.
It's a really strange thing to want to do business this way. So I think you can only become a fool showing a funny nose to the self-appointed gentlemen :)
but basically I'm not a friend of the internet. HaHa! For a while it's interesting, inspiring, lively and so on. But once you've spent a few hours in the garden, it puts things into perspective.
RE: If I'm collateral damage, what does that tell you?...That it's time to do some carpet bombing ?