It’s not so much the lack of a rapid update cycle as much as it’s the pinned kernel version alongside the years-long pace of Debian’s stable upgrade cycle.

That would be fine if the kernel didn’t see much improvement over ~2 years of development, but there’s constantly new stuff being added or optimized with every kernel release. It’s just not much of a friendly introduction to Linux gaming for a newcomer to either have to pick between missing out on recent improvements, or diving into the intimidating realm of fiddling with packages and backported kernels—especially if they’re not coming from a tech savvy background.

Also, kernel upgrades. Unless the user knows about and specifically opts to use Debian backports, they’re going to be on the same kernel version until the next stable Debian release. It’s not the end of the world to leave performance on the table, but some people are picky about getting their money out of their hardware.

Using backports and upgrading to a newer kernel is fine for someone familiar with Linux and confident enough to tinker and make at-your-own-risk changes. Having to do that can be offputting for newcomers, coming across as intimidating or unnecessarily complicated.

I agree with your sentiment, but I disagree with your conclusion of using any major distro. If you’ve ever had to fix a corrupted package manager database caused by an in-place distro upgrade or had to install third-party package repositories to get access to up-to-date software, you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

Beginners should start with something that either has bells and whistles included for out-of-the-box gaming, or comes with an easy way to un-fuck itself when you end up breaking something. It doesn’t need to be Nix, but it probably shouldn’t be Debian (which has a slow release cadence) or Ubuntu (because fuck Canonical and their “my way or the highway” approach to doing desktop OSes).

I really hope he just dies. And not from a shooter. I don’t want his base to have him as a martyr. I want him to have a clogged artery, or a heart attack, and just his body gives out.

Have you had the displeasure of knowing QAnon cultists? There’s very little doubt in my mind that they would do anything but delude themselves into thinking that Ding-dong Donald is still alive. I even have the start of a bingo list prepared for what they might claim actually happened:

• Liberal media and the next Democrat candidate are lying and trying to manipulate voters for the next election.
• Vance is attempting a coup by lying about The President’s health.
• Trump faked his death because (insert scapegoat demographic) were onto him for trying to bust their (insert scapegoat topic).
• Trump is actually in a presidential safehouse for his protection because “the elites” want him dead for thwarting their plans to ruin America with DEI and the Woke Mind Virus™.
• At Trump’s request, the FBI released a fake obituary and made Vance the face so Trump could spend more time fixing America and less time on press conferences.

Dbzer0, good. ML, bad. Their admins are trigger happy with instance-wide bans against users who criticize them or argue with them directly about their beliefs.