I don’t recall nerds arguing about it until the films. And I feel like that’s because its handled adequately in the books. Since its become a meme its been more of a snarky pop criticism hot takes shouting “plot hole!” thing than nerds arguing about it.
As are few other options like having Bombadil hide it. But that serves a mechanical purpose. It helps underline that the ring can’t be hidden, but more importantly it establishes that a good portion of the people in that meeting don’t want to confront Sauron and Gandalf has to push them into it. They’re not in there to lay out that over land is the only option or inform the reader of why different things aren’t the plot.
