Mike McCarty wrote: Using my "measured tone" voice...
One of the pros of Debian is that I'd only have to become more-or-less expert in one distribution.
Why? Not true. There are plenty of us out here that learn the DIFFERENCES between distros and then Linux is Linux. (One friend takes that further and says "Unix is Unix".)
Since the means of support from experts is the list, the distribution and the list are inseparable in my mind.
File most Linux mailing lists under the category: "You get what you pay for." Your sanity level and happiness will more closely match reality.
If you're relying on community support, you get the weirdos, the nice people, and the jerks -- all rolled up into one big mess called a mailing list.
If you're PAYING for support and the support people won't change how they do things to match your desires as a customer, then something's wrong.
Nate