transfer from pot to fermenter

I never whirlpool but I have been hearing folks racking from brew pot to fermented.. I have always just dumped the pot into the pale.. Is there a good reason to rack into the pale

There's less lifting involved when you rack, as opposed to picking the whole thing up. You can also just leave it there and be lazy as it drains the kettle. Just make sure the wort is cool or it will disfigure your autosiphon/racking cane (if you use a plastic one).

From what I understand, the main reason is to keep the break material and hop gunk out of the fermentor.

Just don't pour the crud at the bottom of the kettle, it'll be fine, and it helps aerate the wort.

Plus it seems to me you'd have to carry the fermenter to where it's going to sit & ferment anyway. I prefer to carry the chilled pot into the man cave to the fermenter stand. But a microwave cart or the like the same height as the fermenter stand would be better.
And I pour all through a dual layer,fine mesh strainer to clean & aerate.

Nylon paint strainer works wonders on keepin trub out of the fermenter.

I started racking rather than dumping when I switched from a bucket to better bottles. I don't have steady hands or a big funnel, so it's the best way to get the wort through the neck of the bottle without ending up with half of it on the floor.

I do have an easier time keeping the trub in the pot, but that may just be another unsteady hand issue.

Racking is more equipment to clean, so that is a negative.

I am planning on adding a T connector in my racking hose to allow a little Venturi effect aeration.

So this isn't an endorsement necessarily, but racking has made my brew day easier.

I'm still pretty new to brewing but for my first 8 batches I racked to the carboy using an autosiphon. My last two I dumped through a paint strainer and into a bucket to get the filtering and aerating effect. The extra aeration has worked tremendously well with quick starting and vigorous fermentations and both beers look very clear with a nice tidy layer of yeast on the bottom with very little trub and hop material.

Of course with my most recent method you really have to pay closer attention to sanitation and there is more to clean, but so far it seems worth it.