A squat cannot be performed on a Smith machine any more than it can be performed in a small closet with a hamster.

You are right to be wary. There is much bullshit. Be wary of me too, because I may be wrong. Make up your own mind after you evaluate all the evidence and the logic.

On resting in between reps: It varies with the length of the set. 5s or fewer get a breath to reset. Longer sets might take 2 breaths. During the last few reps of a true 20RM squat, just do what Jesus tells you. Trust me, if you do an honest 20 rep program, at some point Jesus will talk to you. On the last day of the program, he asked if he could work in.

Humans are not physically normal in the absence of hard physical effort.

There are no shortcuts. The fact that a shortcut is important to you means that you are a pussy.

There are few things graven in stone, except that you have to squat or you're a pussy.

A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong. This reality is offensive to some people who would like the intellectual or spiritual to take precedence. It is instructive to see what happens to these very people as their squat strength goes up.