Advice for Linux newbies

I watch G+ #Linux from time to time.  The most annoying posts always stem from the "I'm a Linux newb, what is the best distro to start learning Linux" requests from new users.  I half wonder if they're not trolling as another excuse for a distribution war.  I waded into one of these today and posted this:

There is no 'best' distro.  There is the one that will do what you want to do.  What do you want to do other than learn?  Is this for you to pursue long term employment?  

Get a distro, pick one, any one, use it as a workstation / desktop.  Learn it, break it, fix it, poke it, prod it.  Learn.  Once you've played with it, followed some tutorials on how to do specific things, then try it in a different distro.  Learn what's the same; what's different.

For absolute beginners, I'd say start with either Debian (or derivatives) or Redhat (or derivatives). 

Note I do not give advice on an exact distribution, but give leanings towards further reading (I went back and forth with the original poster a couple times, helping to nudge them in a direction.  The question in this instance asked if CentOS was a suitable version.  Rather than the conversation turning into thirty people yelling different distribution names at the poor guy, there was actual discussion.

All the people who immediately post Ubuntu or Fedora - you're not helping the cause.   You need to explain the HOW more than the WHY when suggesting something.  You need to be patient and be willing to answer questions, not just drop a name and go on to the next post.