To be fair to Gentoo (which has it's share of problems[0] for sure)... it is still far more organized than older distros (Slackware, etc.) in terms of packaging, automation, currency, cross-compilation, security and community. Also, it supports more platforms and features. For Linux all around, the bar has steadily raised. The complexity of a modern system is staggering, Gentoo is the only platform I know that goes the extra mile to allow you to modify everything without sinking in a swamp of maintenance. Yes, there's a convenience cost - but there's a long term cost to not bothering that other platforms extract from you over time.