Very interesting article. I certainly agree on diversifying crypto exposure. For the majority of people, they just want to get a stake in the crypto market. A balance of long-term holdings (put aside in paper wallets) together with cloud mining is a good solution.
The way I see it, there are significant advantages of some cloud mining over pooled mining (e.g. not having to be technical, equipment automatically updated, not having to cover electricity costs, less noise and heat...). The key downsides are that the company that you are dealing with do not make it clear how the system operates and that they don't exist.
The cloud that I mine through gives a mined credit daily, which can be cashed in whenever. I am on track for my purchase of hardware share (not hashing power) to be repaid within 4 months with any subsequent mining on a lifetime basis to effectively be at a rate of just under 300% per year (although my outlay will have been covered by that point). This return is after 50% of mining returns have been paid.
In terms of the people running it, by doing your homework on who is behind it, you can be more reassured that it is not a scam. In my case, the people behind the mining have a much more substantial and known business that would not be even vaguely in their interest to jeopardise to profit from at the expense of the key business. I have verified images of them on site with all of the machinery whirring in the background.
All in, cloud mining can provide a very attractive return for the amount of effort that you have to put in. I can handle 4 months of calculated risk in the interim.