Ted,
Your whole post confused me.
1.
Being long or short VIX futures is the same as betting volatility will be up or down at the specified future date, isn't it?
I get that the ETFs reset each day so to make money you need a steady up or down trend in volatility. If the volatility itself is volatile, the ETF will almost always lose money. But if furtures are really short dated, kinda like buying T bills instead of holding cash, no? (Because in this analogy I don't know how to trade "cash" ie volatility).
2.
I have sold CSPs before. Don't need an ETF for that. High volatility = bigger premia = cheaper stock if it gets assigned. OR, if selling way ITM puts, just cheaper way to buy. Regardless, I would call that taking advantage of volatility when it's high, not necessarily purely buying/selling volatility itself.

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