We meet once a year to vote on crap. Key is to not have a group of people with nothing better to do.
Yup. I can’t imagine what an HOA would need to be doing to meet monthly, let alone delegate decision making to a board.
The latter is simply incorrect. Condo associations and co-op boards are separate creatures, in part due to there being an existential necessity to their existing. (You can't have people dismantling structural members their unit abuts.)
HOAs are far more voluntary in nature. That said, I agree that we need a better framework for distinguishing those functioning as direct democracies from those where an elected board gets to appoint itself powers.