>> I'm curious what emacs users are doing these days.
Still using it because of the massive amount of customizations accumulated in a time span close to yours. I'm often tempted to switch, but if I look back, what other editor would have served me for ~20 years, mostly unchanged? I remember writing lots of macros for Visual Studio 6 and then Microsoft revamped the object system of their IDE with .NET. My understanding is that Visual Studio plugins may not work from an IDE version to the next. Yes, customizing Emacs requires time, but so does relearning a new environment every few years.
I do use other editors, however, for things that would require too much time to configure in Emacs, or for which I prefer a GUI interface. For example, at the moment I'm working on a C++ project in Emacs, yet for debugging and a Git GUI I have VSCode open.
>> Is neovim better in this space?
Maybe, because of the bigger use base of NeoVim/Vim.
>> Should I be learning how to debug elisp better to understand how the commands interact with my environment?
Definitely.
>> I've been using emacs keybindings (in Dvorak at that)
Hi, mate! (^_^)
>> for so long I don't know if I'd enjoy the neovim editing experience.
What? No [Neo]Vim user has ever ported Emacs keybinding to Insert Mode? O_o
> What? No [Neo]Vim user has ever ported Emacs keybinding to Insert Mode? O_o
I'm curious how fluid that is. My experience with Emacs keybindings has been, well, variable to say the least. Maybe the vim-alike folks can make better experiences. Readline's emacs bindings are a bit lacking but still fairly good for day-to-day usage.
I am truly, to borrow a phrase from another commenter on this post, a "longtime Emacs dabbler". But I use Evil mode everywhere and sometimes use other Emacs bindings in Insert mode where they don't directly conflict with some other Evil binding. It feels more or less harmonious to me, but I started with Evil and I'm not particularly attached to any default Emacs bindings.