Distrowatch.com has a Distrowatch Project Ranking in which users rank distros with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. There is a list of the distros with the highest average score which have at least ten votes. At this moment Slackware is leading MX Linux by just 0.01 average points. But, this could change quickly. This poll is supposed to eliminate the favoritism given to better known distros. But, it does lead to fans of competing distros deliberately down rating a rival distro. For instance, Point Linux was the previous leader. But, lately it has received a few low votes and it got knocked off the top. I expect MX Linux fans to review Slackware. Of course Slackware fans could review MX Linux. If, I could get virtual box to work, I would like to review a few more distros.

https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=ranking

That's why I stay way from those kind of things - I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot poll.

Probably this "poll-based" ranking is still more valuable than DistroWatch's usual Top 10 list - I can imagine that Slackware and OpenBSD users are happier with their choice than Mint users.
I wonder if I should suggest them to make that the standard list.

I am using Slackware as one of my distros, so I know it is of good quality. MX Linux looks like a good distro for those who want a lightweight desktop based on Debian stable. Point Linux is based on Debian Jessie oldstable, and hasn't even released an alpha version based on Debian Stretch. BackBox Linux has only nine votes and currently has a score of 9.67. If BackBox got one more vote with a rating of 10, BackBox would have enough votes to go to the top of the list.

In the words of George Carlin and Mark Twain:
"If voting made a difference they wouldn't let us do it!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk

On April 6, a reviewer gave Slackware the lowest "1" rating knocking Slackware out of first place. This put SliTaz in the lead with MX Linux 2nd. After two more "10" votes, Slackware is currently in fourth place, barely behind Dragonfly BSD. I haven't used SliTaz before, but a minimalist distro isn't the most appealing to me on computers with three or more gigs of RAM. I would prefer using Devuan Ascii over MX Linux due to Devuan having an easy upgrade path to a new version. Right now, I'm satisfied with Slackware, and having two Ubuntu flavors as a backup.

The DragonFly BSD ranking confuses me, but I (mostly) agree with it being a solid operating system. They must have done something very well.

All these types of polls only get the more casual users opinion of distros - how many have had a long term relationship with the distro they recommend!

Like a lot of people, I have found the distro that works for me, & I have been using it for a long time, a good few years.

A poll of how many years people have been using a certain distro would have some merit, compared to these 'fan boy' 'polls'.

(I also use OpenBSD when I feel like it, too.)

Whoops: DragonFly BSD fell down a lot with just one 7-Score vote.
That ranking is confusing.

there are too many linuxes to shake a stick at with the era of LFS

if you(all) "read the directions" on DistroWatch you also know if you(all) pay a "donation" they are more likely to register your product and display it were people might see it

worth it for the fun ok, but nothing to complain of if lacking

DistroWatch polls have the same validity as every other opt-in poll.

Precisely none. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

They aren't worth the time it takes to look at them.

The only useful posts there are the ones where people actually tell you why they've given a particular score. "10 Brilliant!" merely indicates a fanboy, "1 Rubbish!" some-one who was incapable of installing it.