I don't care about timelines and all that crap. Star Trek was never, ever intended to tell one massive story in one highly continuous and consistent universe. It's amazing it's held up as well as it has...
If the producers of the show say it's "prime timeline" or whatever, that's good enough for me. They own the property, and they set the rules. It's my / your / our problem if we can't find a way to reconcile that in our minds...
Conversely, I don't care about who "owns the property" and all that crap. "Word of God" means nothing to me; I think of Star Trek as a creative endeavor that's bigger than the sum of its parts; it's a massive intersubjective construct. The entire shared universe, and the way any particular bit fits into its history and continuity, is a big part of its appeal to me.
Different strokes, I guess. But I do agree with you about one thing: it's on us to reconcile the complexities of it in our minds. That's what makes being a fan so much fun!...
FWIW, I voted "yes, but borderline."
In DC Comics: no matter how much is changed, they stories always take place on Earth 1. In Star Trek, on Earth 2, there are flashing blinking lights. On Earth 1, we don't have any of that.
I see what you're trying to get at, but the analogy's a bit off. After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the earth of the DC Universe was specifically
not called Earth-1. As the only surviving Earth, it was simply the "post-Crisis Earth" for a long time, but eventually creators and fans settled on calling it either "New Earth" or "Earth-Zero." Only after the events of
Infinite Crisis created a new multiverse (more limited, with only 52 realities) was there a new Earth-1, but it had no history in common with the original Earth-1. After the reboot in
Flashpoint (leading into the "new 52" period) Earth again had a new history, and after
Convergence and "Rebirth" made it clear that aspects of the original (infinite) multiverse survived, the primary earth of the current DCU was dubbed Prime Earth (not to be confused with the original Earth-Prime). That's a bit of an oversimplification (amazingly!), but it's how things stand today.
What does this have to do with Star Trek? Nothing in particular. Just sayin', is all.