narrowed it down, going with nobara. seems to be fedora with decent defaults, will cut down on set up for me.
bazzite is a little too locked down for my standards but it seems cool
i might stop using arch/based distros and reinstall fedora or mint or something. not because i dont trust arch or the aur-- quite the contrary. i dont trust myself LOL.
i am definitely not the kinda person to check every package i install, i should know better and use smth a little more dummy proof
edit: see my critiques of the AUR here
https://vozer.cafe/@vozercozer/116749820041555123