Tbh i don't quite understand why people are carrying on like element14 has the worst site out there. The website itself (the store part, not the 'community' rubbish) is excellent imo. Where it falls down is that some of the data entry is sloppy and parameters often lack standardised formatting so you end up with lists of parameters that don't order properly and components that fall under several categories so you have to search all of them. If people keep telling them "the website is bad" they will probably redesign their site and make things worse. The website is fine, the data is bad.
Digikey's site is worse but the data entry of the products is generally tidier.
As for all the e14 social media stuff, "pissing money up the wall like a dysfunctional government agency" probably sums up how i see their attempts to be more than just an online shopfront. I often get the impression that they spend the money on something like in the OP, everyone pats each other on the back to justify their existence and no one really cares if it was effective or not.