Good post DMc - you've stolen my trading strategy haven't you?! Buy high, sell low; hold on after big runs losing all profit; being on the wrong side of pump and dump scams etc.!
It's so frustrating watching good stocks languish while scams, schemes and manipulations thrive. It does seem to be widespread across the pink markets though. I see little progress at the moment and a real lack of investor confidence in start up companies.
I haven't been trading too long either and have made a lot of mistakes. I wish i could start over knowing now what I did then - but that's life I guess. Crazy thing is though I "only" need a couple of hundred thousand for my purposes but can't seem to get the breaks.
I like your jungle analogy by the way - that just about sums it up, I think.
I am giving serious consideration to not checking my portfolio for a couple of months - I might miss a few things but at least I'd save my self some stress along the way from the daily fluctuations.