Don’t put yourself down like that.
Nobody is saying it was always succesfull. Nobody is saying it was the best tactic ever. You’re making that argument to justify whether people did it or not, and the fact remains, they did, because it worked. Either for the benefit of your team, or the benefit for the mercy who loses less SR at the end of the match. Regardless, people still did it.
Here’s a great compilation thread that got merged into the mega mercy abyss.