Just want to chime in and say that while @dae and I have not always agreed on things, he always has rationale for why he does what he does and I have always respected that. He has also always responded when I try to do surveys or show how significant issues are.
Beyond that, making Anki simpler is an extremely complicated task. I say that as someone who has been trying to make Anki easier to use for everyone for the past 6 years. I have many ideas, but it’s a very difficult balance. We are currently discussing with Damien and AnkiHub will be funding projects to improve and simplify Anki.
It is worth saying that despite Anki’s complicated nature, it is still one of the most popular, if not the most popular, SRS app out there.
And finally, AnkiHub is working on creating a GPT that will make Anki much easier for new users. More to come 