I think that ninja nonsense was just something people told themselves to justify the lack of communicating and marketing. Someone said it and it has been repeated a bunch of times since then. Really disappointing how the foundation is handling things. There was an announcement months ago about Lon leaving and a new marketing team being put in place and a big marketing push.. but nothing has really happened other than a few shill articles on obscure crypto websites.
Why not get on here -
https://forum.nem.io and raise some points? That's where you'll be listened to by the actual team.
As for marketing, did you not notice the pavilion they had at Consensus? That's some major outlay.
You're right about the communication. It's always been the number one whinge. It's changing, but it's not A1.
The thing that's consistently blown my mind is that taking a few minutes out of one's week and telling people what to expect and maybe when is more effective than a million dollars of advertising yet it's rarely occurred to them.