Try CachyOS, it's based on Arch but with additional optimizations, better defaults, and is user friendly. The problems the author of the article had would not have happened if he spent some time using an user friendly distro before trying a hard distro.
> Like, I hate the modern ad ecosystem as much as the next person, but I also understand the abstract need for the existence of advertisements of some kind.
We used to have catalogs and yellow pages before ads were everywhere.
The old addage is true. It takes a village to raise a child. It is therefore no surprise that our contemporary unnatural way of life and organization of society is not conductive to the continuation of the species.