While there are several useful insights here, I think the absolutist stance misses the mark and is overgeneralizing. While yes, you could (in theory) research t

While there are several useful insights here, I think the absolutist stance misses the mark and is overgeneralizing. While yes, you could (in theory) research the sources, the policies, the procedures, the contributors, the organization... It can save a lot of time (and be a lot more fun) to try things out in practice. Just be ready to wipe and start from scratch when you realize it's time to cut your losses. The advice to stick with independent distros is a good one, in most situations. But the only way I can confidently agree with the author is through experience with the alternatives. That was not time lost. If I'd recommend a daily driver for a very non-technical friend who wants to keep using their laptop that's effectively EOL under Windows? A non-independent distro makes sense. And how would I be able to make an informed recommendation? I could try it out myself. Maybe on an isolated mediaplayer, a use-case specific VM, or an embedded dev project, where stability and security don't matter that much. When the stakes are low and I enjoy trying new things to get a feel for the community and ecosystem, distro-hopping can be nice. Many when I got new hardware in the past, I installed a new distro either on that or whatever it was replacing. Most of them didn't stick but some did - this is how you can learn. You also get to know about the ways of the other independent distros. If you're mostly an Arch+Fedora person, for example, maintaining a Debian installation is great to widen your experience and understand where each makes sense and fits. I've installed more derivatives than I can remember and I can tell through experience why I wouldn't recommend most of them. When Mint had zero issues during the same timespan that system upgrades completely broke the vanilla Manjaro desktop for the third time, I can now make more informed decisions. I would have no idea about the difference in quality, testing and maintenance if I hadn't actually been running them for a significant time myself. Asking someone about their dist of choice can absolutely be useful - if you understand where they're coming from and/or they understand your situation and needs. It all depends on context. It can make sense to outsource some of the bootstrapping and user configuration. Just be aware of the tradeoffs. And do it because it's fun, not (just) because you believe the grass is greener.