(But don't worry, according to them they at least removed the scam code embedded in the software that they admitted gave the developers a deliberate and unfair advantage after other people had to point it out to them - nice to know).
Who pointed it out? As far as I know, NoodleDoodle found it and fixed it.
I think that's the real reason why no one on the dev team is pushing for new exchanges
This is untrue. We've been in touch with pretty much every exchange, and have offered to help any exchange integrate. We get three answers:
1. We're working on it
2. We're not adding new coins
3. Monero isn't big enough
There is no "reason no one on the dev team is pushing for new exchanges" because that just isn't true.
not propped up on a fake exchange
Do you some sort of have evidence Poloniex is a "fake exchange" or are you just making a baseless attack on a reputable crypto exchange business (who for example paid back 100% of their users after a hack last year) without any evidence.