Truth is this has deeply scarred a lot of new investors and left a sour taste in their mouths. the lack of substantive PRs about the launch is mostly to blame but investor confidence is going to be tough to get back.
I agree that this behavior from the MMs scares away real investors. This is why we need to uplist ASAP. The pinks are not the place for a company with real business and real revenues. When we start making money, we need to get off of the pinks. Then this cycle of short/cover, short/cover from the MMs will cease.