I am not. Quite the opposite. I’m happy that Debian is more conservative, even with their unstable branch. That’s one part of the debian world. Stability is more important than bleeding edge. The transition from Plasma 5 to Plasma 6 wasn’t that smooth an Manjaro. I had to correct many things manually. I hope that this will work better on Debian SID. We will see. I bet it doesn’t take too long until it lands in SID.
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Well, according to my experience, Sid is basically unusable most of the time. Arch is much more stable than Sid.
Your issues with Plasma 6 are a Manjaro problem from my point of view.
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Really???
Siduction is running rock stable on three of my computers. Of course, one have to be more careful on updates. But if you are too lazy to have a look, what the update will do, you are anyway better off with a stable branch.
I have been using Linux since 1999 until now. My top three are CachyOS or Endeavor (Arch based), then Manjaro (Arch based repositories for extra stability) and finally openSuse Tumpleweed. The current system is CachyOS on ext4 (preferably no btrfs due to image copy using Clonezila). Also installed HDRmerge from AUR for Darktable and ART-rawconverter
You have to decide what you want and evaluate distributions accordingly. Some relevant dimensions to consider:
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rolling vs periodical release. Do you want to update every 6 month or so, or continuously? Eg Ubuntu vs Debian.
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tweaking vs out of the box. Some Linux distributions teach you how to set things up from scratch, which is great if you want to learn how things work, but the downside is that you have to spend time on this. (eg Arch, which has great reasources to help you). Do you want to learn about the internals of a Linux OS, or start using it within an hour?
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binary packages or source build system. Some distributions package an extensive universe of packages into precompiled binaries, with a centralized QA process and bug tracking. This has a high cost of entry (in terms of time), so there is always a lot of relevant software out there that is not packaged, and then you have to compile from source. In contrast, some distros allow the use of very lightweight build instructions (again, Arch) to integrate new packages into the system.
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special features you need. There are countless of specialized distros filling some niche demand, eg declarative builds like NixOS, etc, the list is endless. Consider these if you need such a feature.
So just think about what you need, but also recognize that it is not something you need to fret about. All distributions package the same packages, it’s just that in some you will get mature/older versions, in some you will get cutting edge (and potentially more buggy) versions, but fundamentally you can have the same kind of desktop experience on any contemporary Linux distribution without any hasle.
The problems you mention (flaky graphics, bugs) just reflect the state of a particular distro at a particular point in time. These will be fixed, and new bugs will show up. That’s how it works.
That said, I have been an Ubuntu user for a long time because it was stable and got out of the way, but given their recent focus on snap I am migrating to Debian/testing, which I find to be a nice balance between stability and freshness. This means that when I install Linux, I install Debian/testing, but I don’t invest time in switching existing machines.
But this may be because I started using Linux seriously when Debian had the best package manager (decades ago, other distros caught up since). I am just not interesting in learning the ways of another package manager since it is not a good use of my time. For me, the OS is a tool, not a rabbit hole to get lost in.
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Wow, that brings back some fun memories.
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Of course. Long life to openSUSE!!! Stability, upgrading facility, flexibility, user friendly (YaST is awesome) and … support (I have doubts about this but it exist)
For me YaST is more confusing than looking at the arch or debian wiki and doing things manually… No offense to the developers but I’ve never seen such a confusing package/system manager 
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I think I had to compile Emerald myself. Or maybe I just thought I did, because I see it is there in Synaptic, but not marked as installed!
Compiz and Emerald, alive and well. There’s a lot of novelty stuff there (Fire, anyone?) but more than enough essential-to-me features in Compiz.
I will never change the basics of my desktop and ways of working. I detest OS providers (commercial or otherwise) who force such changes on users. I left plain Ubuntu because of that kiddy-toy desktop.
I do favour a nice installation routine, rather than working the command line right from the off. When I am installing a new version, in separate partitions, I will have those partitions ready before I even start. But the Mint (Ubuntu) installation still gives me an added layer of protection against doing something really stupid. As long as one remembers to select Do Something Else
Arch Linux, because I add to its already dynamic operating system, Xterm, Emacs, Firefox and darktable, and I have what I need … and only what I need.
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I’ve heard that when something breaks, testing can remain broken longer than unstable, and many praise unstable for … stability.
Like you, I really appreciated Ubuntu, which ‘just works’, without being so stuck in the past as Mint (no problem with that, except that compiling darktable master won’t work using either the Debian or the Ubuntu instructions – maybe that could be made to work, but I have enough of a mess with Java libraries at work, don’t need that at home at the OS level).
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Since a longer time Garuda Linux (Arch) and now transition to Manjaro. Out of curiosity. An Arch-based distro is my way to go. Tried Debian (with Gnome) and Ubuntu flavours. Don’t like them. I never use snap and only very seldom flatpack. A distro with mainly snap is a no go for me.
Reason to have a Linux box running is darktable. Everyting else I can do on a W11 notebook (no OpenCL capability) as well or by usage of a smartphone.
Garuda and darktable sometimes is no fun. Loosing OpenCL after system update and having no clue why the issue occurs really bothers me. I’m not willing to invest time in CLI. My interest is near zero about this. >30 years ago there was Slackware and a huge bulk of floppies. CLI was mandatory. But nowerdays I expect handling of Linux to be like Windows. In good old German: I’m a Mausschubbser 
It’s better to go out and take some fotos. An OS is just a workbench.
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Fedora is the closest you get to vanilla GNOME, bit if that is not your cup of tea (and if your coming from Windows), I would recommend the KDE version of Fedora. I used Arch linux for many years, but switched to Fedora because it just works, and offers the best upgrade experience.
Fedora is a great entry into the world of Linux. You get up an running quickly without having to tweak a lot of things first, but you have all the options to tweak things under the hood if you want to.
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If you’re new to linux, and especially if it’s not a hobby, just something you want to use to do stuff with:
The best distro is the one with the most/closest support. If you have a friend who will help you get set up and provide occasional advice, it will be easier for both of you if you use the same distro they do.
Otherwise, anything with an active support forum will be fine.
Not to suggest that you’re going to have a ton of issues that you’ll need support for, but you can expect to have questions like “what’s a good program for X”, or how do I do Y on Linux".
Basically, don’t overthink. Pick something popular and try it out.
And steer clear of anyone who claims that distro X is superior to distro Y; insists you need to use a special niche distro with six users; or tells you you need to thoroughly evaluate your particular use case and do a rigourous comparison of all the pros and cons of a dozen different distros before you can even start. Just pick one and go!
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Which Linux distro do I use? It depends…
Which lens do I use? It depends…
Different tools for different jobs.
Personally, I think of distros in the same way I think of shoes: It’s harder to run a marathon in a pair of six-inch heels, and good luck getting into that night club wearing those tatty old sneakers.
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SLS Linux, anyone? Ouch.
At least I appreciated Slackware when I went there!
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Well, I wouldn’t advise you to run marathons in tatty old sneakers. But I think I don’t prefer night clubs where I should wear high heels.
But as Frederick II (1712-1786) said, ‘Every man shall be saved in his own way’. 
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Have you attempted both feats in both pairs of shoes?
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Is that a minty cinnamon I can smell nearby? I am quite tempted to go back to good old Linux Mint Cinnamon edition.
Would it surprise anyone if I admitted that I have?