Stop complaining about the junk. That's just how the hobby works, you have to dig trash to find treasure. Your ratio sounds pretty normal to me.

Reminds me of how we chase impossible standards everywhere.

See this everywhere, like @victor651 said about page limits.

Finally, huh" is exactly how I felt. I used to think they were just being careful, but this delay is something else. It's hard to see it as anything but a real problem now.

Look at how most food actually gets made though. A ton of restaurants and bakeries start with a classic base and put their own spin on it. Changing one key spice or the type of sugar can totally change the feel of a bake. If you're the one testing it and getting it to work consistently for selling, that's real work. The story is part of it, but the actual tweak is what makes it reliable for a business.