On one extreme, a very desirable dev has the luxury of ignoring all but the most thoughtful recruiter pings on LinkedIn. He can also tune out companies that are too small, not tech-focused, don't have a good reputation, whatever. The small remainder of recruiters and companies that he will speak to are much more likely to have their shit together and provide a solid recruiting experience.
On the other hand, if someone doesn't have a ton of options, they end up being much less selective about whom they speak to and where they interview, in addition to being less likely to be recruited by the top players to begin with.
I think this explains the dichotomy of why some people consistently have horrible experiences and some never have them. And then there's the "hint" that if you only have the horrible experiences, there is something you need to strategically change.