> As far as I'm aware, most large open GitHub projects use tags for that kind of classification. Would you consider that too clunky?

Speaking for another large open GitHub project:

Absofuckinglutely yes.

I cannot overstate how bad this workflow is. There seems to be a development now in other platforms becoming more popular (gitlab, forgejo/codeberg, etc.) and I hope to god that it either forces GitHub to improve this pile of expletive or makes these "alternate" platforms not be so alternate anymore so we can move off.