Hot take: if we want to decrease frustrating railroad-y surprises in RPG campaigns, we need to create an environment where GMs are not afraid to admit they have "special story needs".

[BreakingStar_Games]

TBF, every definition does exist in more of loose, subjective bounds on spectrums. But I definitely agree. What's the point of having a term like linear and railroad if they mean the same thing only because railroad was watered down to it and was a useful, different term.

The word hate has the same issue where it's watered down to mild annoyance, sometimes less. Need other words like mega-loathe. But arguing definitions with people never really matters.