This drifts a bit OT ... but I have noticed across 'recent times', that my extensive plugin installation is very stable. I rarely have or see reports of any plugin-related issues. (It's also true that I'm fairly savvy about what *not* to try to do, because it is obvious (to me) that it will invite trouble.)

I am not as active now, adding & removing plugins as previously, but I remember well how dicey it was, to run a large collection of plugins, a few years back. That_is_history.

And right there, you could be looking at an important factor in how people (don't) participate in compatibility reporting. Nutin' to report. No exasperation, to motivate them. Also, the 'rating game' really only rewards nice cheerleading; negatives are negative, and cool peeps don't do that.

Point #2. I am not interested in and don't mess with certain important categories of plugins. These categories tend to be the 'elite', the 'glamorous', and the darlings of developers & small-business folk orbiting around WP these days.

I'm not into a lot of the bikini-clad female across the hood of the showroom model action. And you know what? There is actually "evidence", which bubbles up in public talk rather regularly, that that is where a lot of the issues arise.

Not in the large category of un-classy and orphan plugins in the repository (liberally spicing my collection) which we see trotted out routinely as a fav whipping-boy. I'm a virtual 'animal shelter' for this stuff, yet problems have been vanishingly rare, for quite awhile now.

It may be, that it's the cool plugins & fancier developer-wares, that cause most problems ... and the usership of this category of plugins will be especially & notably loath to say so.