Many white papers are just copy paste from other projects, so we have to be careful in reading them.
Investing in a new project requires research and caution, because it is very risky.
Discussing the community in a new project is indeed needed, although it does not guarantee the success of the project because there must be good fundamentals.
You are right, when investing in a new project, one needs to have basic knowledge about the project they are putting their funds so that they do not run into scammers. These days, crypto investment is far beyond just reading the white paper because that is just a fake, and scammers now use it to get at their victims who have no idea how the system works, they know most investors want to see it so they could have clues about their project and this alone makes them plagiarise other projects whitepaper and the investors who have no idea would just be deceived and put their funds into a fake and scam project.
On the other platform last year, there were lots of projects that were exposed as a result of plagiarism and it was obvious that it was a word for word and with just a little difference which wasn't hidden. The community was able to spot it and they got nuked for that act. You could imagine that if the community had noticed it immediately, they could have had their way and made away with investor's funds. These days it is now far beyond the whitepaper but the team involved and what the project has been able to come up with and they launching their presales on a reputable platform worth the investment so that investors would have that confidence in putting their funds in their project.