supposedly there's an extension that auto-hides the 'taskbar with the icons'?

[MrEen]

There is nothing confusing about it.

I can't find my taskbar properties!

Oh. And Tomahhhto!

[Cosmo.]

Once you add function to a empty panel that launches menus and tasks then it's a taskbar as it's been known for 20years for both Linux and Windows.

And again - and not unexpected - wrong. It is called so in Windows and there this correct. In Linux (= kernel) this can never be true, as the kernel does not know anything about any bar. In Cinnamon it was never called other than panel. And if an applet gets added to it, than it this panel, which performs the action, not the panel. If you open an application in Mint to do some maths, than it is this application, which does that and not Mint.

Besides that: Obviously you do whatever comes into your mind to lead users into a trap. You point them to something, which has never existed in Cinnamon. If I think about the question, why somebody is willingly and with stress misleading other users, I do not come to a good opinion about that person. Such people get usually called learning resistant.

[Lucap]

Have you never heard of the term don't shoot the messenger?

If your Bubble is not cable of seeing what goes on the internet and what common Colloquialism that are used then it's not my problem and as previously stated you'll have to take it up with wikipedia and the rest of the internet , hence why the OP stated taskbar as that is the term the majority use , and have used , and will use.

No one needs to learn anything from made up BS technobabble that is illogical by the Gnome Dev.

A desktop is made up of panels , hmmmmmmmmmmmmm i have an idea lets specify one panel that is used differently to the rest of the panels by calling it panel.

Taskbar , Iconbar , launch bar call it what you want but it has a name for a reason instead of a generic panel.

[Moem]

Enough of this senseless discussion. Panel is the Cinnamon term for the bar at the bottom of the screen. Accept that, or don't, but don't confuse people by making them hunt for 'taskbar settings' that don't exist in Mint Cinnamon.
EOF.