"you've got to deal with a lot more options and downright grungy details than in other systems."

I love grungy and hands-on, but I kinda like to know what I'm getting into. I've fallen into some stuff here that's very complex and time-consuming that was evidently presented as a solution to some basic user needs, but which proved to be advanced and byzantine and has me setting up server/client heavy artillery to shoot at flies, so to speak.

I love a good chewy hack but I wish there were a FEW more signposts that read "leaving practical usage territory and moving into regions where you are spending days doing stuff that's way more time consuming than the end result is worth, and which won't really solve your problem anyway". I'm not serious in that wish, I know this is the open-source universe and only the strong survive, but it's tough burning the midnight oil by the gallon when you're just trying to get some work done and just this once, don't really WANT to know how to code it yourself from scratch.

Ignore me. Just b itchin'. I'm constitutionally unable to refuse a challenge so I'll be slogging through it.