STO actually came to my mind while reading the OP's post.
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Other than DAICO which was proposed by Vitalik, I have not read or heard any good suggestion yet. I think SEC might be the one who will ultimately set a new ICO model as there are no other regulatory bodies handling such. 

I have said this already before. This is the danger of having public spreadsheets. Scammers can easily collect data from legit users. At the moment, the best method, other than a hands-on bounty manager, is requiring participants to do a "proof of authentication" post.

I am not really sure about this, maybe they can also co-exist? Both have pros and cons but looking at how SEC deals with ICOs, they might actually go with STOs. There is a good article I read about this topic https://hackernoon.com/ico-or-sto-who-wins-fd43c3ee7b8d

I suggest you change your friends  
Your friends are wrong and they are probably newbies too. If you asked me, I think you just came in at the right time. There are many undervalued coins right now even Eth and BTC.

Good list. I have added some to my list of projects to watch out for next year. I am glad that Fabric Token was also listed there despite the project still under the radar. I am excited what they can bring next year.

If I may add, you can also check Rebellious Token. Their own blockchain will be launched this year or early next year.

China lifted the ban recently right?

Are you suggesting that we hire people such as marketing heads to advertise bitcoin? Who would be willing to pay that? I have no problem if you will do it voluntarily but I would never do that. Start up projects are the ones who needed paid advertising and not Bitcoin.

I used to have favorite exchanges like Bittrex. But right now, there are also a lot of good exchanges and I just switch between exchanges when I buy or sell. I select exchanges based on my current need (volume, price, etc.).

You are very lucky not to have experienced deposit and withdrawal issues with Mercatox.

That maybe true few months back but that is not how I look at the market right now. I see a lot of sideways movement which could indicate that a market recovery is coming soon.  

Nothing is safe in crypto. Everything has risk. If you do not want to suffer losses, maybe the best solution for you is not to invest. If you want to minimize the risk, then it's probably time to hone your trading and investing skills.  

So all these years, you only invested in Bitcoin? I cannot blame you if that's what you think since a lot of these altcoins are really unstable in terms of price and majority fluctuates base on bitcoin's price. There are still established altcoins out there that is worth investing though .

I earn cryptocurrency mainly from bounty hunting at the moment. I do day trading from time to time also but not that much since I don't have enough time to monitor the market. I also earn by doing some crypto-related jobs, they are not bounties but something like online tasks that pays in crypto immediately after the task is done. 

There is always that bounty rule which states that the team can always change or modify the rules when they see fit. So that probably give them the right to add more conditions such as KYC.

Reasons usually provided are current market condition and price stability. I do not really mind if my rewards are delayed as long as by the time it's released, the price is relatively higher than ICO (If not, then atleast close to that).

I think this is only done when the number of participants is less than the minimum required and that is just fair for me. It is usually stated in the rules also.

LOL First of all, I respect your opinion but I do not agree with some of the things you said.
I am a bounty hunter but I do not feel insulted when other legit hunters complain. You see, the bounty team can commit mistakes too and I have seen it happen. If hunters don't complain, how will they get their correct reward?

I am not sure but you sound like a newbie bounty hunter to me. Do not put down other hunters who are complaining because sooner or later, their issues regarding bounty can also happen to you.

Projects getting listed on exchanges is hardly a signal of cryptocurrency market going rapidly. Pardon me but are these projects you mentioned ICO funded? If they are, then it is just right for them to get listed as it is also their duty for their investors.

True that, others look down on us because of that attitude.  Never beg for something that is rightfully yours.

I often read messages on telegram groups from members who mocks bounty and airdrop hunters. The worst I have seen is that a project core team members describing hunters as a danger to their project  

I agree with your observation especially on telegram bots. I also see similar patterns of bot accounts. The latest I observed are English and Russian nicknames with some made up username (e.g. sdfuinsdi). They just kept coming everyday. This is probably the reason why some campaign managers do not check them well because it is really time consuming.

This is probably a good idea for the expansion of Huobi given that she also has many peers in the business world and that her surname is well-known around the world. It would be interesting to see what she does next after her engagement with Huobi. 

There's a similar thread here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5065400.msg47689673#msg47689673

Is Design is important for ICO projects?

I guess so. A professional looking website is definitely more appealing for any ICO investor to look at than those average websites. It also shows the level of seriousness or commitment of the team.

I would not have spotted the difference. I have to be more careful now in buying tokens on decentralized exchanges such as forkdelta and etherdelta where listing new tokens is really easy. Thank you the helpful info.

How long has Bitcoin existed? How old are these altcoins?
I do not know whether an altcoin will come near Bitcoin's worth but these altcoins also need time to established themselves. Many among them are just around two or three years old.