Is it fair to try and classify different Linux distributions?

like for example:
Point And click (newbies):
Suse
Mandriva
Linspire
Xandros
Mepis

Intermediate:
Ubuntu
Redhat + Fedora
Vector Linux

Experienced:
Slackware
Debian
Gentoo

What do people think? is it a good idea or not? Would creating a sort of classification system make it easier for people to choose a distro?

I wouldn't put Ubuntu as intermediate, more of a beginners distro in my personal opinion. I wouldn't say Suse and Mandriva are simply point and click, they are more intermediate to me, but newbie friendly as well.

The problem with doing this is that a number of people here have Gentoo/Slackware/LfS as their first distros - they get quite offended if you say that new users shouldn't try their systems. Equally, a number of our more experienced members use Fedora/SuSE/Mandriva and would be equally offended.

It's all down to what you do with the distro, Linux is very customisable and the system you use does not have to be the 'out of the box' system.

I think it's a fair thing to try to do, but I've come to find that everyone thinks their distro is the "leetest." But as it's been said, it really depends what you do. Even though I would probably agree with most of your list, some things in different distros really ticked me off, but it's mainly just the package management that seperates them all and maybe some default setups. Although there are many point and click tools included in some as you listed which can help sometimes. I find people are more aquainted with their wm/desktop more so than their distro sometimes. My mom freaked out when she went from kde to gnome :P

why not go to distrowatch.com if you need a classification? A classification isn't always meaningfull but reflects the opinion of some persons...