I don't see a claim of it being more private than a username. Perhaps the person you're arguing with views them as equally private, or is thinking of services that require some form of contact info. I can't speak for them.
Last time I checked, Proton logs included things that did not appear in normal terminal output, so you might want to do both. (That was years ago, though; things might have changed since then.)
LOL what? No they’re not. How does an email protect your privacy over just a username?
They said per-account email addresses, presumably meaning that when giving out an email address, you would use a different one for each service. That way, they couldn't be used to link you across services, and you could easily delete one (and know who to blame) if it was abused.
quit ~~selling~~ demanding my fucking phone number!
FTFY
Both Canonical (Ubuntu) and Red Hat (Fedora/CentOS) have a history of pushing their own stuff on people and locking it in when they have the opportunity to do so. This is no surprise, since both are trying to walk the fine line of being profitable business system/service providers using open-source software. I expect they will do more of this in the future.
They can only do it so much, though, since they don't have unlimited resources and don't want to alienate too many users. Some people find one or both of them tolerable. Some don't even notice the changes, since most of that stuff is just behind-the-scenes plumbing to a typical desktop user.
If you want to reduce the chances of having your setup disrupted by some future obligatory change, I think Linux Mint would put you in a good place. The regular edition is based on Ubuntu, but Mint insulates its users from nonsense like the Firefox Snap (providing a native package instead), and the maintainers have a Debian edition as an exit strategy in case Canonical ever goes off the rails. Ubuntu is based on Debian, so migrating Linux Mint from an Ubuntu base to a Debian base would be fairly painless.
Tip for installation time: Consider putting the /home directory on its own partition. This will allow swapping distros in the future without having to mess with backup/restore cycles to preserve your files and user settings.
The reasons vary from person to person. Some of the complaints I've seen:
In Snap's defense, its design looked potentially better than Flatpak at sandboxing when I investigated them both a couple years ago. Unfortunately, it was pushed out with too many rough edges to feel like a better choice for most users, and the closed app store is a deal-breaker for many of us.
I like Debian-based distros, so I usually suggest Linux Mint or Linux Mint Debian Edition to beginners.
Regarding the ones you mentioned: Fedora has a strong following, so you would probably find plenty of community around it, if you're okay with a distro so closely linked to Red Hat corporate decisions. (I am not.) Kubuntu conveniently uses KDE Plasma by default, so you wouldn't have to install it yourself, but recent Ubuntu variants impose some controversial things like Snap packaging; it's a matter of preference. Manjaro and Neon have relatively poor track records in the stability department. I don't have any experience with openSUSE.
It doesn't matter very much which one you pick, because you can always install a different one later if the first one you try doesn't suit you. The only way to get a feel for that is to try them.
When people say "KDE", they generally mean KDE Plasma, which is the desktop environment that was originally just called KDE. (Kool Desktop Environment.) It was renamed somewhat recently, I think so that "KDE" could refer to the organization that also develops applications and other software.
What you're looking for is not about distro, but desktop environment.
Since you want tray icons and an environment that isn't just basic, avoid GNOME.
You are on the right track in considering KDE Plasma. It's good, rich in features, and very customizable. A few distros use it by default, and most will let you install it as an alternative to (or replacement for) whatever they use by default.
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