I use vim because I prefer modal editors when editing config files - "normal" mode prevents me from fat-fingering a lot of my config, and undo is a simple "u"

I use vim because I prefer modal editors when editing config files - "normal" mode prevents me from fat-fingering a lot of my config, and undo is a simple "u" away. :setlist allows me to see if I have any stray invisible characters. However, as a default for new distributions, nano is a solid choice (with the command help on the bottom). Any experienced users can just type vi, or update the EDITOR env var. It's about as friction-less as running a different command. However, once you grok vi, there's no going back.