Glad to know you using flarm for 6 years. I was under the impression you are not based on your post. Also without signing names (I always sign) we don’t know who we correspond with. Apparently we have similar experience: 8000 hours soaring here (all cross country, not contest) , close to 3000 with flarm and ads-b with a lot of traffic from both, and I wouldn’t want to fly without it, just as I wouldn’t want to fly without chute. Since it is only effective if the majority of us are using it, I wouldn’t post any negative comment about it. I am pretty sure that no one is looking down in their panel when in gaggle.
As for the ratio of midair’s in gaggle vs non gaggle, I didn’t do an in depth analysis, but my recollection is more than 50% of the fatal one were not in gaggle. The ones in gaggle tend to be more survivable due to lower impact energy (such as exchanging paint).

Ramy