Some issues just stem from Ubuntu itself though. Granted those aren’t all and maybe not even a big portion, but they do exist. I had huge issues upgrading Ubuntu back when I used it if Nvidia drivers were installed. On Arch, it was trivial. At work, we have VMs running Ubuntu 20.04 and we were advised not to upgrade because they no longer work correctly after upgrading (these are special VMs not in our company network for testing and stuff under administration of the user with only the initial image rolled out centrally).

I can see why a new user might be attracted to using Ubuntu, and without trying to talk anyone down, my reasoning was more something for educated users who make an informed decision on which distribution to run, which is not something you can ask from a novice.

Also, while I know this isn’t the best metric, Debian currently ranks above Ubuntu on Distrowatch, so interest is there, which is nice; personally I wouldn’t recommend anything Debian based to experienced users but also wouldn’t explicitly warn against Debian either. I think their approach of a distribution is outdated, but they’re a driving force behind some innovations like reproducible builds, so it kind of evens out.