Personally, I’d love to see a bit more open-mindedness in regard to ideas surrounding tag handling. I love this app, but I definitely have my issues with it (despite also being a satisfied customer for multiple years).
Absent any folder support, I’m reliant on nested tags (this is, indeed, the “Bear Way”). And just like the OP of this thread, I prefer to have these at the top of my note. I’ve settled on this structure:
Some tags can make sense in-line within the body of a note. However, that’s never going to be the case for a string like “#1-Projects/My Project#“ … which is why I have a “section” at the top of my note for them. The app is kind enough to support drag-and-drop for tags, but this results in new tags appearing at the BOTTOM of my notes, while I (like many others) prefer them at the top.
Using YAML Frontmatter for tags is a cool idea in theory, but as of today, this isn’t supported by Bear. Frankly, I’d welcome this as an option too!
For what it’s worth, this subject has been discussed at-length here too: Request: Creating tags at drag&drop on top rather than bottom of the note