That is an interesting point about the frustration generated by the game, since most players are below M1-GM & pro level, and as this is the level which has the most importance for the devs.
However, they didn’t mention anywhere they were caring ONLY about that level. They often mention winrates as a plural word in their feedback. And in a very old blog entry, they mention looking at full ladder winrates as well as more high level ones. So it’s not impossible they still take in account the performances of us, regular players. 
On this precise point, it’s not infrequent for bugs to become features in competitive games. For example, canceling a move into another was a bug introduced in Street Fighter II by Capcom. Then balancing which attacks could be canceled and which didn’t then became a key feature for the whole fighting games scene.
Widened matchmaking ranges can be identified very simply, as they are a consequence of smaller player pools, which induce longer waiting times.
Smurfing individuals can also be identified in most cases (cf. part II of dedicated thread).
Coming from there, one could deduce easily in which situation he’s in by just looking at his waiting times and opponents profiles. Waiting times that are < 30s for 1v1 at P1 MMR currently, and it should be the same in gold.
It’s not because you are complaining to be smurfed that you’re being disconsidered.
It’s because by choosing to circumvent the ladder just because you don’t want to play difficult opponents, you’re doing the very exact thing you said shouldn’t be done. 
So you’re right, people should’ve the right to play they ladder normally. But the conclusions you draw from there are questionable. 