YMMV, but MY Linux desktop stinks

> Also it seems that people start using Linux for a lot of different
> reasons and their needs and expectations aren't considered when this
> 'use my distro' mentality gets tossed their way.

You make some good points, and we're in more agreement than you think.
Notice I'm not advocating a 'use my distro' mentality, but a 'try a few
distros before you invest too much energy in one that might not best fit
your personal needs' mentality. My favorite distro now is gentoo, and I
learned the most about Linux from a few months with linuxfromscratch,
but I wouldn't dream of recommending either to a newbie. I just wish
that someone would have told me I might have a better experience with
another distribution when I was a newbie, in _addition_ to helping me
work out specific problems.