Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every time Slackware is metioned in a news site, fans of it will always write comments saying how they love it, and many other users like to point out how Slackware's package management is "nonexistant" or outdated, in the sense that it doesn't resolve dependencies automatically and we're in 2009. There are even some Slackware fans who counter-attack saying that manually resolving dependencies is better and that you…
According to your philosophy, isnt ArchLinux the perfect middle ground ? rolling releases, BSD style init, a really good package repo (AUR) and manager (pacman) - no "-src" packages ... if you want to insist on Slackware like package management - use PKGBUILD .
But, yes, Archlinux is definitely another distribution that could fit me too, as it's quite simple and doesn't get in the middle. I'll probably try it one day if I become tired of Slackware.