Here's my perspective. I'm exactly that kind of guy you mean.

As soon as someone mentions "immutable distro", I get triggered and start shilling for Bazzite et al.

Why you might ask? Because I like using it, and because the guys behind it are chill dudes with a great vision and a lot of know-how.

I'm just a normal guy without IT skills. I can't code myself, I can't review someone's else code, I can't do anything.

But I wish I could.

The only thing I am able to is making it more well known.
If someone asks "What distro do you recommend for gaming?", I'll say "Bazzite".

Someone else might say "Arch", and another one "Tumbleweed". Everyone likes their own thing, and everyone shills for something else :)

I really wish your theory was real, then I could make some $$$, but everything here is FOSS. The devs are just as broke as I am...

It's possible, but unless you can prove it, you're just blindly casting aspersions. Appeal to possibility is a logical fallacy.

Do you guys think people affiliated with a distro make fake posts like this to drum up interest in their product?

I'm sorry, "fake posts like this?" Do you think this post is fake? If so, why?

That's a very cynical take on things :( I'm not sure why the Cachy devs would want to do that when they could just post, "Hey, here's our distro, come take a look or try it out". This is a FOSS community and they're a FOSS product that people make in their spare time, not some huge for-profit trying to squeeze as much out of folks as possible.

I would think a post of me gushing about how I switched to CachyOS after a decade of Arch and how much amazeballs super excellent wonderful blazing fast easy to use easy to install blah blah blah would be more of a red flag than me asking what specific extra packages are installed lol.

But I realise that since these times are so full of fake posts, here's a pic or it didn't happen: https://i.postimg.cc/DZsdcmwJ/Screenshot-20250122-101326.png

And yes I realise I could fake this too but there's only so much time I can be bothered putting into proving that I'm asking a legit question and posting a screenshot is it. Take it or leave it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yeah, probably, but this one doesn’t seem obviously fake. It could be, but it also could be real. I’ve never heard of this OS, so I’m assuming it’s not popular.

Did you notice any changes in performance once you'd done the swap?

to stand on top of arch’s shoulders

Ubuntu is standing on top of Debian's shoulders then. So is Kali, CrunchBang, MX Linux, Deepin, Rasbian, Tails, etc. Linux Mint is standing on top of Ubuntu's shoulders which are standing on top of Debian's shoulders. As is KDE Neon, elementaryOS, Bodhi, Pop!, Zorin, etc. Fedora and RedHat are standing on top of each other's shoulders. Bazzite, Asahi, Alma, Rocky are standing on their shoulders.

EndeavourOS is also standing on top of Arch's shoulders. So is Artix, Majaro, Garuda, Archbang and let's not forget SteamOS.

That's how FOSS works. And you do realise that it's not a one way street right? They all contribute up and down stream.... because again, that's how the FOSS community works.

Standing on top of others' shoulders is the entire deal of distros (and Linux, more broadly), no?

I don't know anything about Cloudflare vis a vis CachyOS (the politics of business melts my brain), but supposedly Cachy offers a speed boost for certain tasks. When I've used it, it feels as snappy as a Debian install I use.

For some, it may not offer them much of a difference. It's not going to be a "leaps and bounds" difference either way, but it allows people who don't want to optimize their packages manually and don't want to optimize and build their own kernel the opportunity to experience the potential benefits of those things.

Thank you for an actual helpful answer, one of the few in this thread :/

Yes, there are a number of apps (including my example of Meld) that I would install anyway. But a list is nice anyway just so I can curate things the way I like them. :)