Is this behavior in getting started expected?

I respectfully disagree on one detail. In my setup the opposite held true, though I suspect it comes down to community size.

Strong agree. Good defaults beat a wall of toggles every single time.

This is the answer I wish I had found six months ago. Would have saved me a weekend of trial and error.

One caveat for larger communities: keep an eye on the indexes. At a few thousand rows the difference is night and day.