This. I would love to be able to specify a profile in almost every kind of file. Start with, say,

  profile base2022

and upgrade the defaults yearly. Provide a page detaillibg the differences so users can review what they have to do to up their baseline. Existing users can upgrade at their own pace, new users start with the best possible configuration.

You could do this in a cooperative manner: produce it as a set of include files, put it on GitHub or whatever, and spread the word.

Yes, this is much better than a "normal vs. strict" directive in any conceivable way.

It also helps on slowly deprecating the older behavior, you just say "nginx2004 is now deprecated", and people understands what you mean.