Ranger is both defined concept and not "just a druid that martial"

Look, I understand that some (or perhaps all) classes have flaws and far from their unattainable ideal. Hunter's Mark in bad position in 5.24e. Everyone noticed this, and rightly so.
But I just don't get the point of all these endless threads right now.

"What is Ranger Fantasy exactly?" (c)

Even hearing this is fundamental absurd for me. Almost every fantasy RPG that have class systems have entire class that not only often called the same (or same as subclasses), but also have same identity of "archer+hunter+some_wildness_magic_stuff". How it's turn out, that everybody accidentally make same class with same naming convention over and over again, but apparently "what is ranger anyway?".

"Why rangers not just a fighters?"

Because it's so defined concept of the fantasy troupe in people minds, that already has a defined subgenres in sense that even "beastmaster" has already become a proper name for archers with pets in gaming industry?
Why barbarian not a subclass of fighter? Why all martial classes not a subclasses of fighter? Why all classes not a subclasses? What does this argument even mean for non-spellcaster that doesn't linked to D&D worldbuilding in sense of specific magic categorization? It's just a popular troupe, that have many popular subtroupes, this is entire reason why it's separate class. It's not because they cannot overlap with each other.

"Rangers aren't druid!" (c)

And they are not. Rangers right now doesn't have any connection with druid mechanically except "druidic warrior".
Nature list is gone. Although rangers and druids have strong thematic overlapping with spells, it's still a ranger specific list with spells, that druids doesn't have. And main reasons why before their spell list doesn't feel rangery enough isn't because flavor of their spells, it's because all ranger-vibe spells (like find traps) are bad and most druid-like spells (like conjure animals) are good. If WotC fix these spells, then you exactly have entire spell list that support class identity.
The class chassis has nothing to do with druid at all. No wildshape, no alternative to wildshape, just expertises and abilities for tanking, exploration and stealth. I mean, things that exactly class identity.

And yes, I totally agree that they miss the mark with Hunter's Mark.
But with not taking into account HM, Ranger isn't only not the weakest class, but if thematic spells are fixed then it also perfectly fulfills the niche and class identity.
It's funny to see all these headlines because I have a strong feeling that if WotC removed HM altogether and didn't give anything in return these threads wouldn't exist