If it works, is safe, and is maintainable, there’s no shame in it. My unraid box has some unorthodox drive mounting too.

Not sure what constitutes a lot, but definitely had AUR software. Generally only for things that were not otherwise available

I know it’s not the same (some would argue worse), but I ran manjaro for a long time and just didn’t have these sorts of issues. Maybe I didn’t update enough, or I updated too frequently, or ?

So much this. I suspect there’s an issue around opt out making the platforms less appealing to advertisers. The people with disposable income to spend opting out of ads, might be exactly the ones advertisers want to reach.

I would be really curious if this was the case prior to the advent of smartphones. Was the ratio the same on early USENET or BBS? It’s so much easier to lurk than participate from a smartphone keyboard.