OK, if the exceptions are quite exceptional and hoping, as you note, this doesn't represent a trend, I'll keep it in consideration. Thanks for the insight.
To reinforce what others are saying, this is the only Rust decision that gives me even a moments pause. Everything else is pretty pleasant. Honestly, I hope that this backfires and gets fixed in a future Rust Edition. It's a very silly thing.
But the rest of the language is really good so don't let this scare you off. Most of rust feels very well thought out and reasonable.