Actually OP confirmed those as clues.
Even though I've returned to that 'summary' several times to re-read and try to make sense of things, I still question whether OP is actually confirming clues or if he's just confirming "yeah, I said all those things." Like you say, I can find meaning out of all kinds of 'pairs'....and I can dismiss just as many for any number of reasons (location in image, size of word, angle, etc) and there's no telling what the OP wants us to glean from the information provided.
But this is not about 'puzzle solving skills', it's about the need for clarity, as nobody seems to be able to even start this supposed 'marathon'. No to mention actually finish it.
Yep. Most of Coin Artist's puzzles had clear steps--a definitive indicator that you were on the right track and had solved a chunk of the data.
1FLAMEN wasn't quite like that, and lo-and-behold, it took years and years to solve.
I wouldn't be surprised if OP is content for this to remain unsolved for years so it too achieves cult status and raises the profile of his business. It was neat when that happened with 1FLAMEN, because CoinArtist wasn't selling anything. It was a puzzle for a puzzle's sake.
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I feel like the solvers deserve at least a few points of clarification from OP, because you're absolutely correct, this is going nowhere. The puzzle may be genius-level work, but we'll never know because it's a word puzzle which--as you noted--is infinitely more open to interpretation than numbers and symbols. It's kind of a "screw you" to the solvers to go silent, especially after initially saying this would be a 'much more interactive' puzzle between solvers/creator.
If OP is assuming that there's enough hints out there that someone's approaching a solution, I can tell you that's not the case. Every puzzle solving chat across telegram/slack/discord, this forum, reddit..everywhere...the well is completely dry. The puzzle makes no sense. No one can even tell you where it starts.