> "esoteric" carries some quite strong negative connotations

What? It didn't strike me that way. (And for what's it's worth, I'm a native English speaker; I was a communication major, an English minor, and a technical writer; since college I have continued to dabble in writing and linguistics for over 15 years; and as you can see I even know how to use a semicolon. :)

Had they said "eccentric," maybe I would have agreed. Esoteric, to me, has more the connotation of a secret society of sages.

Anyway, the article itself uses "esoteric."

By they way, I'm so glad that they declickbaited the headline. Thank you, editor!

That's a good point. We'll happily update the title again if someone can suggest a better one still using the author's language.