I feel like Arch used to be simpler to install, right? Not that it was done for you or anything, but I recall being really impressed back when with how straightforward it was using the wiki.

I moved from Arch to Gentoo and then back again, and strangely Arch seems harder for it. Not just the install, but including it. My impression is that the wiki is noticeably less useful now, though of course it's still extremely useful. But it increasingly reminds me of digging for hints on Gentoo, when I recall it feeling like the authors were almost prescient at times.

Though I suppose I feel similarly about internet search in general, so maybe I should be a little slower in blaming the wiki...

Arch used to have a much simpler installer a few years ago, but it was scrapped.

OP here, > I feel like Arch used to be simpler to install, right?

It was! There used to be a beginner's guide that was much easier to follow than the current installation guide.

> Installing arch is still way more complex than other distros and that's totally fine as it is.

I think what the author is trying to get across is that some arch proponents seem to want to make it needlessly hard.

> Beginner might just not mean 'person who never ever seen a PC before'.

There is a huge space between "person who never ever seen a PC before" and "person who could understand arch'es install guide".

The commentor/troll is in my opinion a dick. That's just being an aggressive dick.

But I did install arch Linux just 2 years ago fresh and had no problems and I still configure and set it up manually.

The installation guide is still very good.

And friends around me use arch Linux based distros.

There are plenty of options also for beginners.