KDE is now my favorite desktop

This is an opinion stated as fact. Not every user is the same. That's why there are loads of apps with UIs that have different user modes, for power users, etc. KDE is most suitable for power users of Linux desktops, probably who use it as their daily driver. If you aren't in that category, you may not like it or may find it to be not worth the time investment in.

Not every user is the same, but it's absolutely valid to discuss whether broadly for most users constantly-churning UI is a net positive or net negative. I think your case, ie customizable UIs, is something of an edge case, and I do agree with you that expert versions of simple UIs can be a really positive move.

A Linux user is, and has always been, an edge case

This is an opinion stated as fact. KDE is mostly for dads that like a mouse oriented Windows/mac like OS but with buttons to customize.

Sway, exwm etc are for power users.

If you aren't in that category, you may not like it or may find it to be not worth the time investment in.

10/10 gatekeeping buddy.

I dislike how people seem to recommend KDE for power users when GNOME is actually.. great?

I'm an old power user/dev and I used to absolutely love KDE 3 for its take on 90s OS UI, I went into v4 thinking it was a major downgrade (I used KDE 3 as far as the KDEMOD maintainers could push it) and it never got as good as the old v3 days. Somewhere by the end of the KDE 4 life, GNOME 3 formed into something kind of usable and I started noticing some advantages to it, even tried it for a while. Fast forward to now (including a few years where I rolled my own LXDE/XFCE hybrid setup, I was desperate lol) and now I pretty much only use GNOME. I consider it a fine DE for power users... or whatever use you have really. It's great on a notebook, it's great on a desktop and it's great even as an HTPC interface. You do have to wrestle with it for some advanced functionality (dealing with extension isn't always fun, digging into dconf isn't fun...) but the OOB defaults and basic functionality are actually the best there is, maybe even among all desktop OSes.

I mean, if Linus Torvalds out of all people uses it then it must be at least decent for more advanced users, right?

Now whenever I try KDE it feels like an uncomfortable car where every single adjustable thing needs to be tweaked for it to feel minimally usable, except many adjustments are finicky and leave you with a half assed solution. It won't resonate with me anymore...

There isn't only one kind of power user, and not every kind of power user will like KDE. I use GNOME almost daily, with KDE being my primary daily driver. I just really don't see how GNOME could ever said to be great for power users. There are so many ways you can tailer KDE to specific things you may find yourself doing heavily, that would be impossible with GNOME's UI. Being a power user and using GNOME, to me just means you're using the terminal for everything, which is totally valid.

Linus also may not even really be a power user. He says himself that he rarely writes code anymore, and primarily just sends emails and reviews code.

I didn't say KDE is the only option for power users, or that there aren't multiple types of power users with different use cases and individual preferences. I'm not sure what I'm gatekeeping.

Is it really gatekeeping to say that KDE is for power users? Setting it up in a way that really meshes with your use case and preferences is a process that you'll spend many hours or days of time on. That's not something that makes sense for grandma's computing workload.

> This is an opinion stated as fact. KDE is mostly for dads that like a mouse oriented Windows/mac like OS but with buttons to customize. Sway, exwm etc are for power users.

So you're saying that prefering a highly customizable GUI means you're be a power user, but instead you're a gasp dad? This isn't Reddit, buddy. Grow up.