Thanks for the nuanced and detailed reply.
I will only point out one thing you talk about... how knots uses 99% of the Bitcoin core code. Well, that seems like a good idea, honestly. I actually feel like Satoshi's premonision about the danger of multiple implementations was wise.
And as much as I don't want to rely on a single developer who seems to see the world in black and white to maintain the version that excludes the things that I think are bad for the network, I might switch to it because of that last part there.
Again, thanks for your thoughtful reply and best wishes on reviewing that pull request. 🙂