Ignore.....airlock.....activity....
Go read the blog linked in the post above....
There's rarely a reason to use a secondary on any beer these days...So no, nothing you posted changes my mind about using one...My beer is clearer and better tasting than when I used to use one.
Read This...
And here's an
illustrated example of long primary.
As to dealing with hops...Some dump everything in, without straining, just pour it in the bucket or in the funnel....Some use a big strainer that fit in the funnel for a carboy, or a sanitized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag in the bucket...
I have done it all ways. It really doesn't matter...anything will settle.
In other words, there is no wrong way to do it, or better way, or way that will make the best beer...they all work...the choice is what will work the best for you. That's how you develop you own unique brewing process. By trying all ways and deciding what works best for you.
What I do with my IC, is chill the wort, then I lean the bottom of my autosiphon about two coils up from the bottom on the metal of the siphon. That rests it above most of the break material and trub, then I rack it to the fermenter until I'm down to that and carefully lower the siphon down into the gunk, just trying to get as much of the wort as possible without letting in the hops and break matter.
But pretty much up until I got my immersion chiller I just dumped for the majority of my batches. And I still managed to do well in contests...
But again, even with hops in the fermenter the tight yeast cake will keep most of it out of the bottling bucket....and careful racking with prevent the rest from getting over.