> Like an X window manager is more akin to a Gnome shell plugin that adds a dash to your screen.

Yes, that's exactly my point - on the user's side, X was modular, not monolithic. Wayland is the monolithic one where everything is "batteries included" (except not always everything) with no ability to add/replace functionality.

Please continue reading the remainder of the sentence from my first comment:

> and you have to accept whatever your chosen desktop environment chose to implement.