The same reputation extends to Windows too so I don’t think it’s a Linux specific issue.

I like the UX as it’s pretty powerful but I’m mindful of being ancient and having spent nearly a decade working with arcane telco applications. I have the opposite of your complaint - I like that it does periodic checks and will notify you of detected problems and usually give you a button to press to solve it.

My biggest pain usually comes in load order management. Usually this is because this is mentioned nowhere but in a note at the bottom of the mod description that might say something like “near the top” or “after mod x”. I don’t know how Steam just handles this mostly but I have a feeling it might be strong categorisation of mods.