[busterarm]

I had a similar route as you and for a great many years I ran Slackware and Debian before eventually just settling on Slackware.

That was the moment that I finally really started to learn how to run a Linux system properly. I learned how to fix problems on my own, build packages from source while managing dependencies and everything. I got to spend a lot of time tinkering and could finally tinker without breaking anything.

Sadly, work and gaming led me back towards Windows and after a few years break, I just couldn't go back to Slack (I tried). Moreover, it seemed like there was a slight shift in the Slackware community and a lot of folks were now using Arch.

I gave it a try and haven't looked back. I still love and respect Slackware, but Arch is totally kickass-good-to-me.