I believe it's wrong to induce hope in people when you know the outcome. Because they will buy at a pumped-up price and then it will crash and they will blame you, even if not openly. That's why I don't do it. Or maybe I do it at other times because my analysis is wrong. I could have shut up, of course... Maybe I will, next time because I see by reading some posts people had some hopes that were shuttered.
This was not the type of pump that would hold. The only way the price would have held, was if the market started to move up during the P&D (which at some point may have been possible with Bitcoin simulating to go up as HIVE tried to find a floor halfway down).
I also believe, like you, it is kind of stupid to sell HIVE to fiat at these prices, pumped or not, unless you have no other choice. HIVE will reach higher prices by the end of this bull market. I don't believe it will be $10 as some hope, but at least a couple of times the price it is at now. Which makes it a wrong move to sell now and go away.
Regarding the publicity these pumps offer Hive, I half agree. Yes, Hive becomes more visible. And yes, some will look at Hive for the right reasons. But mostly, it will attract other pump-and-dumpers.
As for the connection between the (in)successes of Splinterlands and Hive, I don't buy it. When people are salty, they keep finding reasons to cast blame. And I still see Splinterlands itself experiencing some sort of an end of a bull market (hopefully). While many are lamenting, I see some people are talking about completing their alpha and beta sets at a cheap price. Not everyone thinks from one day to the next, or one month to the next.
While a P&D (a word of caution for anyone reading this: not all pumps are P&D!) can be a small opportunity to sell on the pumpers and then buy back, and thus, make a short-term profit, the most important part is the long-term plan. Small (or even big) short-term gains are in no way a substitute for a proper long-term plan, in my opinion. That's what should prevail.