Yes, big transitions with desktop environments can lead to glitches for a while too. Theoretically independent parts can be upgraded at different times, but show subtle compatibility bugs not captured in the dependencies. I experienced this with big KDE Plasma updates. Nothing too big, and when you know about it it's easy to avoid with temporary pinning.
Like all rolling distros, it's best to be a bit technically savvy and know your way around the distro to handle those glitches. That's the big interest of stable: no bad surprise. Stability is not just lack of bugs, it's also lack of changes with the unavoidable little regressions here and there. There's room for both stable and current, but it's different and criticizing stable because it's stale misses the point IMHO.
Anyway, I agree with you that testing (and rolling distributions in general) are probably not a good idea for newcomers. For those who like to roll their sleeves and dig in once in a while, and like to learn, then fine.
Also, people usually don't need the latest in all. So stable with a few select up to date packages is usually a very good compromise. Just get the latest for what you really care about, and for the rest the no worry but slightly old is just fine. With flatpack/snapd and each language package manager this mix and match is really easy to do and probably a better trade-off than a rolling distro for many people (but not all, so just use what's best for you).
Like all rolling distros, it's best to be a bit technically savvy and know your way around the distro to handle those glitches. That's the big interest of stable: no bad surprise. Stability is not just lack of bugs, it's also lack of changes with the unavoidable little regressions here and there. There's room for both stable and current, but it's different and criticizing stable because it's stale misses the point IMHO.
Anyway, I agree with you that testing (and rolling distributions in general) are probably not a good idea for newcomers. For those who like to roll their sleeves and dig in once in a while, and like to learn, then fine.
Also, people usually don't need the latest in all. So stable with a few select up to date packages is usually a very good compromise. Just get the latest for what you really care about, and for the rest the no worry but slightly old is just fine. With flatpack/snapd and each language package manager this mix and match is really easy to do and probably a better trade-off than a rolling distro for many people (but not all, so just use what's best for you).