Linux users are hard for using a terminal when they could just open a document in a text editor.

The command line is always there and always has the same basic tools, assuming the system is bootable at all. You can’t guarantee that a given system has a working GUI—it may be broken, inaccessable, or never installed. Having some kind of TUI editor installed is usual on non-embedded systems, but you can’t guarantee which one or that it’s fit for purpose (coaching a newbie through a vi session isn’t something anyone wants to do). That means that the generic instructions that get passed around because they’re fit for most systems (regardless of distro or purpose) use the command line tools.

So there is method to the madness, but if you’re coming from a “GUI or bust!” OS it can take a while to get used to.

I cannot imagine a less welcoming and beginner friendly community

You have very little imagination, then.

There’s no “may” about it. The Ars Technica article indicates that the Internet Archive’s front page was (briefly) altered in addition to the account data being stolen.

It’s a cat. It got curious about the inner workings of a satellite and stayed there past liftoff to investigate. And now it’s acting silly in front of the camera in the hope that the servant monkeys back on the ground can figure out how to send it a zero-G litterbox and a bag of Cat Chow.

(/s, of course.)