Couldn't agree more (mostly on the part that Pacman and the AUR are amazing).
I was so intimidated by the whole "build your own system" philosophy, that I never tried, and it was only after asking on HN for advice[0] that I finally gave it a shot.
Software-wise the best decision of my life so far.
It also taught me that "RTFM" is often the best solution, and that man pages are there for a reason.