>

I feel like pcpartpicker has been around forever
Really? As long as I've been building my own PCs, (2011) it's been fairly plug and play, with no more than basic knowledge or research required, and I would hardly say over a decade is "a few years". Also, technically speaking, techy people ARE laymen unless they're literally IT/design/engineering professionals as well. I agree that it's becoming much easier to find out what parts are optimal for a budget and put together builds in general, but idk your post comes off as very gatekeepy and a bit cringe. >

So you'd rather have parts be less openly compatible?