Right. Here is what I know. Darkcoin was kinda a piece of shit and I avoided it. But looking at the top market cap in the top 10 currencies it's pretty obvious that anon is NOT a fad in crypto. It should be a cornerstone. So anon = important.
Cryptonote is something besides a bitcoin clone. Monero is well distributed. Blockchain bloat sucks. It's not the outright scam Darkcoin was. Although Darkcoin scam + being first mover and seeing it's success was a lesson in how huge first mover is worth in this space.
I'm not sure if first mover in anon coins is still a big deal since dark is falling to Monero? Does Monero get first mover advantage if it passes Dark - or is first mover advantage gone? But it sure seems like it would be an uphill battle for a new currency. And at some point consensus / network effect takes over. (MS Windows vs Mac, etc).
Just random facts. I do wish all the issues you brought up were resolved (although I will admit to not understanding some of them). But ... do they have to be to make a significant huge massive improvement to privacy over bitcoin?
Here is my opinion. Opinions will vary. And you know I am biased because I am developing something.
Monero is indeed a reasonably serious effort and offers something different than Bitcoin. But Monero isn't what I want, because I want to defeat the Fascist State. So my goals are higher. But all I have to offer is vaporware, which is in many ways worse than useless to you as a reader.
Note when I inquire about the capabilities of the Monero developers, it is not that I am trying to make negative publicity. I am trying to ascertain what their capabilities are, because I am developing something. I view them as a strong competitor.