I’ll admit I have used Artix, Peppermint OS (Devuan), and Void Linux because I thought the idea of a SystemDless distro sounded cool. It wasn’t because I had a problem with SystemD. It’s more so that I love that numerous options exist for different system components. For me it’s sad to see that certain features or applications require SystemD be present. I like SystemD, just to be clear. I also like the freedom to choose. Maybe, i’m missing something. What do y’all think? What do you use and why? If you use OpenRC or something, why? I’m guessing most people use SystemD and don’t give it any thought which is fair.
I don’t have an opinion on the rest of what you said, but you’re factually incorrect about systemd being “monolithic”. It’s a pluggable framework, very much the opposite of monolithic software.