You don't have to. The OP is entirely misinterpreting the KDE HIG. If you want to see how actual KDE devs interpret it (rather than some random non-KDE user on a message forum), just go use the latest KDE. It isn't turning into Gnome.
I do use the latest KDE. I'm just saying that if they start making changes that go in the "let's dumb this down and start removing options" path, then I'll probably start looking at other options.
I don't see any evidence they're going to do that, including in the HIG quote the OP posted before. It said nothing about removing options, so any suggestion they are seems like scare-mongering to me.
No.
Because that is exactly what they are doing, now.
That is unfortunate. I'd hate to have to move off of KDE. It's been great up to this point.