If you want to have a linear history on main, either always rebase your branch onto main, or merge but only accept squashed commits onto main.

It's funny because I learned git on the job and we exclusively used rebase when I was learning my git fundamentals. I wouldn't say merging scares be, but it's never a tool a reach for.

> Here's a 1k word article

lol if 1k words is "not easy" for you, i think you have bigger problems than merge vs rebase.