While agreeing with almost everything you have said
@Former_Player , I can objectively understand why Lichess does not implement different time controls too.
If you do if for one variant, it opens a can of worms and all variants would need separate time controls and it starts to venture into nonsense land. Although Chess 960 is not really a variant, most still consider it so.
The main reason for your post is that it is affecting your chance to break into the top 10....which is a minuscule part of the chess community that I can't begin to relate.
t appears to me that most players are not into 960 for a multitude of reasons and that is the real issue.
This aversion to Chess 960 runs rampant in the chess world and I speculate that it's because old habits die hard and the higher rated the player the more of a vested interest they have with maintaining the status quo.
At one time I hated 960 and wished it never existed because I wasn't good at it and often lost quite quickly in the openings. Now it's pretty much all I want to play. The standard position seems so contrived and boring to me now.
To have any changes made to Chess 960 I think it starts with more titled players speaking out as well as more players in general asking for more tournaments, including OTB and in coffee shops, parks etc. Once there is a critical mass, then the time controls might seem justified.