You're surely getting downvoted and lumped as one of the "but that wasn't real scrum" types, but this strikes me as unfair. I am highly critical of scrum, and have had many of the "that's not scrum" variety dismiss criticism, but yours is actually thoughtful and (indirectly) makes a good point: some people really do deviate from "real scrum" substantially. I hate scrum with a passion, but if we just do the inverse argument of blanket dismissing any criticism under "oh you're one of those" then we're being as intellectually dishonest as the "that's not real scrum" crowd (and for the record I don't include you in that crowd).

I appreciate you being willing to articulate an unpopular opinion :-)