I’ve personally only ever heard the term “dotfiles” used in the context of a collection of customized config files. To be honest I can’t remember ever hearing a term used for .* files/folders in general, outside of maybe “hidden directories”? Granted, it could also just be that we’re existing in different bubbles.

Loosely yes, but I rarely see anyone expound on it beyond “It’s bloated and therefore bad”. I also rarely see specific criticisms outside of that like journalctl being slow or using a binary format for log files.

This is by far the most nuanced critique of systemd I’ve ever seen. I don’t fully agree with its conclusions personally, but I think it makes a lot of good and valid points about its architecture and its flaws. It feels like such a breath for fresh air in comparison to the most vocal anti-systemd types who vaguely and angrily gesture at “scope creep” and refuse to elaborate further.