Very well articulated, @NotesFTW! Agree with all of it. That explains what I’ve been missing in Obsidian so far.
Some seem like easy elements to incorporate, while others may be harder or impossible to reconcile with the premise of using a markdown file backend.
Even more interesting is perhaps whether a yet-to-be-imagined superior outlining system is possible with Obsidian, rather than simply copying outlining features from existing systems.