Is climbing easier in the preseason? Does it even matter?

So I think that in the preseason, your mmr is affected by ranked games just like during the regular season and this will be a big factor on where you start your placement matches when the new season starts. But it seems like many people are just trolling ranked during the preseason, much more than during regular.

Also, there's some kind of phenomenon where more people end up being ranked higher in the end of the season than during the midst of it, and certainly during the beginning when everyone's mmr is higher than their rank after finishing placements. So for sure then, when you play during preseason, you are playing people who are ranked maybe plat 3 who are usually in plat 5 most of the season(kind of thing).

I feel like this is pretty much the truth. Anyone else notice this or know/care anything about it?