On the flip side, as a researcher I am so glad that LaTeX exists.
Here is the thing. I treat LaTeX (mostly) like markdown. I use the environments to write my text, include my maths, add my figures, and compile with the target journal's sty file. Done. For my thesis, I applied my university's thesis style guide.
Now, there are all sort of clever packages that do various things - however, rarely is that my job to source and apply. The publisher of your document should be doing that.
I agree with the underlying problem - the package design can cause problems, but you can usually work around them. It is after all just a collection of contributions mostly from academics hacking to add some feature they need.
As to 'people using LaTeX should know better', I would argue that they do know better - but contributing back to one of many tools they use that is already doing what they need is probably low on their priority list. Remember, their responsibility isn't to work on typesetting projects, but to be able to typeset their research for publications. Most will do what it takes to get that done - which is probably where all those nightmarish packages come from.
Here is the thing. I treat LaTeX (mostly) like markdown. I use the environments to write my text, include my maths, add my figures, and compile with the target journal's sty file. Done. For my thesis, I applied my university's thesis style guide.
Now, there are all sort of clever packages that do various things - however, rarely is that my job to source and apply. The publisher of your document should be doing that.
I agree with the underlying problem - the package design can cause problems, but you can usually work around them. It is after all just a collection of contributions mostly from academics hacking to add some feature they need.
As to 'people using LaTeX should know better', I would argue that they do know better - but contributing back to one of many tools they use that is already doing what they need is probably low on their priority list. Remember, their responsibility isn't to work on typesetting projects, but to be able to typeset their research for publications. Most will do what it takes to get that done - which is probably where all those nightmarish packages come from.