Why would people push back at that?
I'd personally say "use mastodon.social", but your advise is just as good. Simply because it is a solid advise, offers a single option and points people at where to start.
Ubuntu is good to start¹, and if people say "but it's bad at thingy foo" or "it has default bazoombas! default! on!": no-one said it's where you must now commit yourself to forever. Distro's aren't religions (and even religions can be switched), they are just stuff that sits on your computer. Your next re-install or next machine might be anything else.
¹edit: to be clear: it's also good for experienced people or grumpy bearded linux-veterans like myself (24 years in and counting). I use Ubuntu. It's hardly configured even, just the defaults (well, my shell and vim have some 20+ years of config tweaks).