Ever since IEO platform was created because these top exchanges promoting them makes sure they do their own due diligence in ensuring that the project is a very reliable one, many investors have made their ways back to the crowd fundingscheme and still supporting these good projects in establishing it. So ICO and IEO are totally not to be compared.
IEO of top exchanges simply unjoinable for small investors. It is just a game of whales. I agreed with you that IEOs are ICOs are totally different, however, they have common things that they all can be abused by groups of bad guys. Sooner or later, when the IEO wave become hotter (like we witnessed with ICOs in the past), scammers will start their new wave of scam IEOs. Their IEOs are real, everyone can join and buy, but eventually they will make scam exits and run away with not only funds they raised from IEOs, but also from all money of traders stored on their exchanges. Personally, I simply stay away from IEOs of small, strange, and young exchanges. For well-known, big exchanges, we don't have opportunities to join them, so forget them too.
Absolute sense in what you said, if you see many of us that has been singing praises of IEO and hyping IEO, ask any of them if they have ever participated in any IEO, especially that of big exchanges like Binance, they will tell you no.
The cost of buying these tokens on IEO is quite high, and since IEO starts and ends at the Initial coin offering stage, unlike ICO that still gives opportunity for people to participate in post ICO, but there is nothing like post IEO, except maybe these news exchanges that will not meet up the target before the time elapses and will eventually have no choice than to throw it open for post IEO. So if we dontconsider small exchanges IEO too, then we may never participate in any like you said.