I think that article and the other two parts is a bit misleading...

I think that article and the other two parts is a bit misleading and ill-informed, fake news if you like, however i do have detailed files on other stronger cases or studies of manipulation and collusion and do feel for inexperienced, lower skilled, less knowledgeable and less resourceful retail investors who think they can have a crack at winning in the stock markets. This isn't an easy game when sitting at home, us retail investors are competing with some of the sharpest minds in the world, its stacked against us before we even start.

Those examples you have provided in your post.... RCR, Quintis and Arrium didn't go bust because of shorters, collusion or manipulation, they've all gone bust because of bad and/or what i call shady management.  Heres 4 links that sheds light on the companies causes for disaster and from a quick read it seems the Directors seem to have maybe not done their job properly, the shorters that called those disasters while share holders could still sell did the retailers a great service by making the market aware of some of their reasoning for being short and thus retailers had a chance to sell rather than holding the baby down through the gurgular.

Arrium - https://www.copyright link/business/energy/arrium-directors-to-be-grilled-in-court-over-potential-breaches-20171215-h051er

Quintis - https://www.copyright link/business/agriculture/crops/frank-squared-circularity-of-quintis-deal-examined-in-receivers-hearings-20181110-h17r2f

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-01/insider-allegations-hit-sandalwood-grower-quintis/9825810

RCR - https://www.copyright link/business/rcr-tomlinson-directors-and-auditors-could-be-hit-with-lawsuits-after-collapse-20181126-h18cxv

I'm not sure about this dark pool stuff, i think it relates to mid-point trades which i think come through the CHI-X, other non-whole numbers trades can be seen in the daily course of sales and are always marked as some sort of crossing.  I'm just a retailer and with an ANZ trading account i have sometimes been able to buy and sell at mid points but can't see any mid point depth or create an order for a mid-point price, it sometimes just happens when i do a normal buy/sell trade.  I also believe Commsec orders can sometimes be filled at m id-point prices too, however from memory Suncorp, NAB, WBC trading accounts don't and/or can't.

I also think that the algos can jump in front of some of my orders i send through somehow, i don't know how but they must see trades coming or theres some sort of time window that algos can use to its advantage, but this sort of thing dosen't cost me much, if anything, its just a little frustrating as us retailers arn't that sophisticated and advanced and in most cases just use sub-standard trading software provided by online retail brokerages like the Banks, the Banks basically don't spend enough money on their trading platforms and thus we are stuck using the Arc.