To be clear, I meant it as being something genuinely unclear to me because people do a survivor's bias thing all the time where "it worked for me, so it must work in general". Sorry if I sounded accusing.

I agree with you that lots of people can be reformed, I think it's practically possible for most people and we as socialists should seek it out, though that's of course different from saying every socialist needs to devote all their energy to arguing with every reactionary they see (which some others, not you, use to make a false dichotomy in the other direction). I don't think it's helpful to try to evaluate who is somehow morally worthy or unworthy of help, we have a better future with more comrades regardless of who "deserves" it or not.