I also think we're conflating use cases. Email is likely more efficient, I don't debate that. Yet I don't want it because of the time I do spend in a PR/MR UI (be it email or web ui) is so minimal that I want the process to be nearly fire and forget. The thought of learning some CLI based email client just so that I can merge a branch from someone else once a month feels.. well, it screams that it'll become like a Unix tool I rarely use.
I feel like he's asking me to open up Emacs every time I want to PR/MR, but I'm a Vim user. I don't have any email workflow currently, and I don't want to have to figure it out for a problem I don't have. He's telling me it's more efficient, but most cost vs savings ratio seems very off compared to what I imagine his is.
I don't disagree with anything he says about email, yet I have zero desire to try it out. If I was getting multiple MRs a day, or god forbid dozens a day, yea I'd be dying for something more efficient. But in the Emacs example, I wouldn't mind opening it if I was going to be doing it regularly.
Being required to use a workflow that you rarely use and is always in the "how did I do x?" part of your brain is a hard selling point for me. Even if that workflow is better, if I never remember how to use it what does it matter? It's still worse for me.