I honestly think you've hit on the answer here. The truth is probably a combination of both theories. I think
mine is closer to the truth, of course, but I digress
My complaint that all this is cynical is probably just frustration over seeing geeks leaping to the worst conclusions over and over again, so maybe I'm just projecting. If that's the case, then I will try to be more mindful of this moving forward.
The thing is that anybody in a position to make big creative decisions can be made into the villain. To fans of Zack Snyder's DCEU, Geoff Johns is a villain while Snyder is the poor victim, whose artistic vision has been compromised. The reality is probably just that Johns disagreed with Snyder's approach and was tasked by WB with the impossible task of giving them a completely different movie under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. To others, Mike Carlin, Kevin Dooley & Ron Marz were villains and the people who enjoyed the JSA, Hal Jordan & the GLCorps characters were the victims. The reality is that those guys were just trying to bring in some fresh blood to the DCU and accomplished that with Kyle Rayner and other legacy characters.
In the minds of some fans, Dan Didio is the villain and all the fans and creators who love Dick Grayson, Wally West, Roy Harper & Donna Troy are the victims who've seen their beloved characters mismanaged again and again. The reality is probably that Didio is trying to figure out how to make the DCU appeal to a larger audience and he, incorrectly, feels that those characters don't work towards that goal. I can completely disagree with him without viewing him as a villain.
I think both Geoff Johns and Dan Didio have really hard jobs, and I don't think either or them are trying to negatively affect the other in doing those jobs. Johns has a lot of responsibilities that are far bigger and bring in far more of an audience and revenue than the comics do, so I don't blame him for being late with his scripts. Didio also has the incredibly difficult job of trying to expand the comics reading audience while also appeasing the current core of disgruntled 40-somethings who just want comics to be like they were when they first started reading them. Like with Johns, Didio hasn't always been successful, but I will always give him credit for his willingness to course correct when his plans don't work out.