The ring signatures V2, has a follow-up post which has been conveniently omitted. V1 didn't have the DarkSend that is now implemented, rather something like 3x10 DRK, one round. It was real-time, in the sense that you had to transact (DarkSending money) as you were mixing.

I wrote something to the effect that ring signatures are DOA / they don't scale, and then Evan thought of another way to improve mixing, and V2 came out with premixing (no need to mix when sending, which improved speed massively as the money were ready to get spent), multiple rounds, various denominations etc.

So people did get a much upgraded V2, although through a different implementation.