For real I started on Ubuntu and nearly a decade later I still would be on Ubuntu if it wasn't for their migration to snaps with the proprietary back end.

for real. my uncle has been programmer his whole life and he was always the most linux guy I've known. I have never seen him use any other os. and yet he uses ubuntu. his own words are thar he doesn't care about all the bells and whistles that come trough distros like arch or gentoo. ubuntu works well enough for him and it's what he is used to, so he uses that.

using ubuntu defiently does not mean you're a noob or non-techy linux user. personally I wouldn't touch it again but the linux culture about arch being superior and others being for noobs is ridiculous

Ironically I've tried installing Ubuntu a couple of times in the past, but for whatever reason it didn't work. I'm currently using Debian instead just because the install worked. No idea why, maybe my laptop is just weird.

I used Arch for years because I wanted to learn more about how linux works and it was a good way to push myself. I think it worked because I am better at problem solving now - I even read the error messages lol

All the linux makes me say "do what now?"

I just want to change the settings on my fan. It's been roughly 2 years.

I ran Gentoo for about 3 years (and will likely return soon) and I reckon there are plenty of really advanced Ubuntu users who know more about how my system works than I do.

Any mainstream general purpose distro can do mostly anything and can be used by power users. Some should ONLY be used by power users, but that doesn't make them inherently better than a distro that both a newbie and a power user can understand and use.

You know why I use Gentoo? Literally the bragging rights. I doubt I'm optimizing things THAT much with my fancy compiler flags.

I still prefer nerdy hipster elitists gatekeepers from greedy corps after all is said and done. The first is unfortunate flaw of human character, the second is a calculated machine. If this is the price to pay then so be it. Individuality often isn’t as nice on the surface as the common but the common often has hidden sinister motives under the comfy, smoothened out rug of user friendliness.

Lonely nerds don’t have PR and marketing teams but also won’t stab you in the back for profit. Sometimes they can be huge assholes though.