You have an extremely healthy perspective on this industry.  I'm with you about complaining!
Keep chugging, cause that's really all that gets you anywhere.

I may be wrong here, but the description is the only thing visible to standard search engines like Google or Bing, and since most bog standard search tools are not IPTC aware, doesn't this make the images more visible to more searches?  Maybe not for pros, but for the greater unwashed.  In that case, maybe it's not such a dumb idea.