People seriously overestimate the volume of spellcasting. Verbal components are “normal noise level”, it’s equivalent to normal speech. Some SPELL EFFECTS are very loud - a fireball or lightning bolt is going to be heard clearly hundreds of feet away, you could make arguments for people being able to hear spells like this up to a mile away or even more in some environments.

The verbal component itself shouldn’t be audible more than 120 feet away at the absolute farthest. I would even argue that spells like suggestion have very quiet, nearly imperceptible verbal components. Other spellcasters watching the spell being cast would clearly see that it’s a spell, but to the average person someone casting a spell like suggestion would literally appear to just be doing a jedi mind trick.

If that annoys you, I won’t mention how the Message cantrip actually works.

Is the OP a DM whose game keeps getting thwarted by players using silence, and is trying to get a bunch of people to agree with him on Reddit so that he can show his players they’re wrong?

Silence is a solid spell imo. You’re forgetting it’s usefulness in combat, making it impossible for spellcasters to cast any spell with a verbal component (which is most of them) in a large area without requiring a save.

If you want to cast the spell while around people, yeah, they could notice you casting it, unless you use subtle spell. Also, the spell has other situations where it could be useful, like to cover up the sound from a knock spell on a difficult or magic lock. Silence also has the ritual tag, meaning in a situation like that you could cast it without expending a spell slot.