I'm not saying its not possible, I am disagreeing that his is a valid point as an argument for "the distro does not matter" statement.

But when the question is between Ubuntu and Kubuntu you can "convert" between them very easily. Not to mention that the fundamental difference between all Debian based distros is the version of the packages they offer, so you can very easily jump between them expecting most things to be the same.

These are not the only reasons, but good reasons WHY the distribution matters. BTW I also think that some distributions are technically superior for certain use cases. In example CachyOS is more up to date, has optimizations even on Kernel level, compared to an old Debian distribution that is focused on stability. These are technical differences that matter, for whatever you want to achieve. It's not just a personal taste.

Yes, that matters for you, it doesn't matter for someone who just wants something to use. That contributes to the decision paralysis of switching to Linux, when we say distro doesn't matter we're trying to remove that hurdle, because for the average guy that will just use his computer the difference between Debian and CachyOS is the name. Someone without experience in Linux doesn't understand what stability means, they think it means the system won't crash so they always try to use stable distros and get frustrated because they're out of date, or alternatively they think they want bleeding edge until it cuts them. And that's the crux of the issue, when we make a distro choice, it matters because we understand the differences, when a new user is trying to pick their first distro they're essentially throwing a dice, it doesn't matter where it lands, it matters how they feel about it.

It's hard for us to put ourselves back in the shoes of someone just getting started,

They are thetorical questions

But they're not, they might be to you or me, but for someone without Linux knowledge they're very real questions. I have answered some form of some of those from people in the past.

If they don't understand the differences, then they SHOULD research and debate until they do.

Oh really? Would you mind telling me what's the difference between Pop, Ubuntu and Mint in a way that would matter for someone who doesn't understand anything about Linux?

Choosing a random distribution and hopping until they understand is not only waste of time and resources, it will teach them wrong lessons this way.

Having to research what to use before understanding the difference will teach them nothing and make them give up before starting.

I for myself researched for months before I landed on Ubuntu in 2008 as the default, to replace Windows XP. Then I kept using it for... I think 15 years straight or so (forgot the exact numbers).

Yeah, but 2008 was a very different playing field than it is today. 2008 we were almost unanimously recommending Ubuntu or Mint, every forum you asked, every thread you found online it would have been essentially the same recommendation. It's easy to make the decision then. Today if you open 4 different articles from 4 different sites you will likely get at least 4 different answers to which distro you should choose. And theyake it seem like it's this big important decision that you have to get right the first time around, that's the mentality we're trying to fight.

I don't like the analogy of "clothes" or someone else with "colors". Distributions are extremely complex and there is way more work and knowledge involved, they have way more impact and dependencies.

An expert in clothes might tell you the same about them, and that's what you're missing, you are an expert, to you the difference between Mint and Pop is concrete and mensurable, to someone who doesn't understand what I package manager is it's just vague words without any meaning.

And to your point if someone asks me "do clothes matter?" i will say "off course". Not just to contradict you, but because I think clothes do matter depending on how they fit to me, to the situation I am and how nice it feels, how it looks and so on. Even on practical side, if it rains or if I want to swim. While I don't like this clothes analogy, I still wanted answer that question you assumed I would say "no".

Cool, now explain to an alien who walks around naked why this jean and t-shirt is different from that jeans and t-shirt.

Just because it does not matter for most, does not mean that it does not matter at all.

And if the alien above asked you what clothes to wear to go to the supermarket, you would just say "any jeans and t-shirt would do", only to have dozen of other people telling him "use this shirt and this pants", "No, that's a bad color combination for your eye color, use this one instead", "No, that show is hard to lace, use this outfit instead", "You're not really dressed unless you wear a custom tailor suit", etc, etc...

They don't know it does not matter.

Precisely why we tell them it doesn't.

I think there are choices better suited to them, even if they don't know and say it does not matter - it does, they just don't know it yet.

Yes, exactly, but they won't know until they understand, and you won't know until they understand, and they won't understand until they do, and no amount of reading will make them understand. The initial choice between 5 different "noob" friendly distros doesn't matter, the understanding you get from that will guide your next step, trying to take the next step before knowing where you're standing is a recipe for disaster