just like very nearly every mining operation that has ever existed, the chance of the latter is slim to none
Source? There are plenty of mining operations that made money. In fact it was pretty hard to not reach a positive ROI by now with most asics.
I'll turn that around and ask you to list 3 mining operations that were Bitcoin profitable. To simplify, you can just list the asset, what the IPO share price was, and what BTC dividends to date would have been for 1 BTC invested.
There's also minimal information as to who the operators are and whether they have a credible and long-standing WoT presence (far from infallible, but at least a step in the right direction). Why is this important? Well, for one thing, shutting down a business is trivial, abandoning it doubly so. Being an identifiable and amicable person means nothing (see: Neo&Bee). Having a registered business means nothing (see: AMC/VMC and many others). Trust is a product of provable engagements over time, coupled with an ongoing demonstration of business acumen by the operator(s) (which could be done, for example, by said operator(s) being involved in discussions of other businesses, and by providing advice and/or criticism they demonstrate that they at least have the knowledge to do better). Thus far there is little evidence of either of that here.
They have something better than WOT. Real names and real business experience. This is not some people with no history/reputation showing up asking for money.
And WOT is the most useless system ever. Do you honestly think it prevents any scams?
We had/have real names and real business experience for AMC/VMC (Kenneth Slaughter), for Neo&Bee (Danny Brewster), for BTCQuick (Jerrod Brunce), for Hashfast (Eduardo DeCastro), for BASIC mining (Eric Corlew). Heck, we even had KLYE's real name. Your belief that a real life identity or a lack of a criminal record means anything whatsoever is laughable at best.
The WoT does not
prevent scams. It is qualitative, not quantitative. There are people I personally know and have established trust with who have a negative WoT rating (due to Sybil attacks). With something like a Bitcoin asset, the WoT provides a level of historicity wherein someone's relationships and dealings over time are detailed and available for inspection. Additionally, given the qualitative nature of the WoT, it allows me to see
who in my Level 1 or Level 2 trust group the asset operator has had dealings and engagements with before. That opens it up for conversation, as I can talk to those people who I already trust (directly or indirectly) and find out about their dealings with the person. Red flags show up very quickly. Thus, the WoT is not too dissimilar to what LinkedIn is trying to do for business relationships, except that the rating system allows a level of detail that LinkedIn does not, and it is free to use and observe (where any vaguely useful use of LinkedIn requires a substantial monthly payment).
I understand that the concept of trust within a trustless system may be difficult to grasp if you have little technical knowledge of cryptography or have not spent sufficient time establishing and dealing with individuals and businesses in countries other than your own (which, unsurprisingly, requires a very WoT-like approach to figuring out whether a business and/or operator is legitimate and a known entity). I would suggest familiarising yourself with the former rather than the latter, and an excellent start is
Practical Cryptography by Niels Ferguson and Bruce Schneier (ISBN: 978-0-471-22357-3).