I see there still some raw emotions there but I'd like to chime in on a few points with regards to this and take it as you will.
1. I believe for the most part it is for end users now, there's no intel enforced XTU anymore and as far as I can see no hardware sponsorships forcing you to bench what you want.
2. By all means you can if that's what you want to do. The ranking systems and points are only what you make of it. It's a lot harder to get an old 775 first since people have had 12 years of benching those CPUs compared to say a 32Core global first today which you get almost automatically get a first just from participating. I personally don't care much for the points but understand those who do so again this is just what you make of it.
3. I believe the biggest issue is that systems like Ryzen and Coffeelake are just far too expensive and far too boring to begin to drag people into the XOC scene for them to want to push further. Pure multiplier OC is in itself easier and the game has become more about binning than it is about tweaking and testing, so hence a smaller competitive base.
4. Yup happens to the best of us, can't argue with that.
5. Was this due to sponsorship reasons on purely just to keep up with the leaderboards? I personally feel that if it's just for the points then that also would have caused your issue in point 4 since it becomes more of a chore than simply something you're doing for fun.