I don't know. I see an awful lot of superlatives and exaggerations being passed along as concrete facts and I don't think that's helpful to those who are still navigating their way through this marathon of a gauntlet. From what I've learned and experienced, very few pieces to the recruiting process are black and white. I'd argue 95%+ is grey because there are countless variables.
I think a better approach would be to speak about avenues/approaches in terms of how valuable they were/are to a given individual situation. Then allow those who are trying to learn to absorb it and try applying approaches to their individual situation.
I'll use a low hanging piece of fruit as an example. The vast majority here feel PG/PBR/etc ratings and rankings are meaningless. As in, they have zero value. Zero value and low value are not the same thing. I'd be more inclined to say that the ratings/rankings are of low value for most, but not zero value. Let's say Johnny was rated a 6 by PG or is ranked 97th by PBR. He doesn't feel either are representative of his actual value, so he uses those as motivation. Motivation to increase his measurables, to focus his preparation for his next PG/PBR showcase, etc. Is that exactly what PG/PBR are hoping for? Absolutely, because it brings in more money. But I wouldn't rush to write off ALL value from something simply because it pads someone's bank account. To me, that's short-sighted. And at a time where finding ways to stand out/differentiate are heavily handcuffed due to Covid et al, I'd hate to see anyone write something off simply because a majority consider it to be of zero value. For most, it's experimentation - trial and error. Each and every player's path is unique. With my 2021 recently signing his LOI, I can't look back and find very many things that were truly of zero value. We turned over about as many stones as we could get our hands on. I think most things are of low value, so I'm all about stacking up as many low value items as you can. I haven't seen any high value options that work universally.