Vulnerabilities found in packages? The maintainers aren't omniscient.
Flamekebab
I think you might be interpreting my comment a little too literally. Perhaps I could instead word it as "I don't know what the appeal is - to me it doesn't seem anything other than an oddly archaic OS". What's its USP, so to speak?
I had something similar when I tried running SUSE in about 2005. Shortly after I discovered Ubuntu and found that it made package management and maintenance easy and from there I was able to start using the system to get things done. Whilst I don't currently use Linux on my personal machine, I do use it on my work machine inside WSL2, on servers at work and at home.
I've never even entertained the notion that Slackware would be something I might use - because it seems clunky for the sake of clunk. Am I missing something here? Or is the clunk the appeal, like how lots of people like really awful B-movies?
That's something that I don't understand. I have a computer to do stuff. Performing maintenance is a necessary evil, not a hobby, at least for me. If I have to do any significant maintenance more frequently than about every three years, it's too often. Sure, I'll install updates (usually using a package manager, so the work is a command or two), but this stuff gets in the way of me doing what I turned the machine on for.
It's much like when I launch a program and it immediately asks me to install updates. Uh, no, I launched you to *do* something, get out of my way! (I'm confused as to why more software doesn't prompt on close - I love it when they do that!)
I did once try to get started with Slackware when I was a teenager. It was on a cover CD for Linux Format about twenty years ago. I never managed to get it running and gave up on Linux for a while as a result.
I'm a little perplexed as to what it exists for, to be honest.
That's what I'm getting at. It's not that I have no interest, I do, but if it's too inconvenient it's a bad fit for me. Much like I don't make my own shoes, I suppose. If I had infinite time then, sure, but realistically the opportunity cost is too high.