Aren't those clearly frauds for the people participating, but as businesses they're just somehow structured in a way to be sound investments for those on the outside?
Sadly, real people say stuff like that seriously. Without anything else to go on it would be unwise to assume the authors beliefs. /s is a helpful way to show that one is being sarcastic and not a serious ignoramus during online discussions that lack other communication channels like body language or inflection.
I mean, they might just be a class of frauds that are currently legal thanks to lack of will to close a particular loophole that permits their existence. And it's not as if they don't receive legal penalties all the time:
This sub-thread is very amusing. All you people saying if it was fraud there would be lawsuits. Guess what, there are tons of lawsuits against these companies and also settlements. And vc doesn't care! Look at the genius. Look at WeWork and Adam Neumann. Many people saw it was impossible to make money and meet their valuation.