I don't think that actually self-compiling all the source necessarily follows
from the free software freedom to have it. One small part of Trisquel, the
kernel, passed a million lines of code years ago, so what benefit do you gain
from merely compiling what you are unlikely to have read? What really
matters is that because the source is available it has already been read by
many independent people. Distros routinely patch software to remove security
vulnerabilities that are present because the root developers mistakenly want
them in. Calibre, the e-book tool, was famously a case of that until
recently.
Nor is it a case of 'who keeps the keepers,' at least in proportion to the
user base. Any distro with developers using it will have people pulling the
source and rebuilding the package to make the debug symbols when they are
faced with new bugs they need fixing. Seemingly irrelevant differences do
get noticed when this happens. Further if I have two non-hacker friends who
have quit Ubuntu for good over the privacy invasion (yes, I recommended
Trisquel :-), then we can assume that free market pressures will kill any
distro that gets caught doing seriously counter freedom things like shipping
compromised free software binaries that don't match their source repo.
Moving from the big two proprietary o/ses to GNU/Linux involves learning both
new applications and differences in the desktop. It's a mistake to think of
that effort as an inconvenience, it is simply a necessary part of change.
Better one makes the change now, rather than spend effort, say, learning the
changes in W$8 which doesn't improve ones freedom. Similarly changing to open
data formats now, which improves your freedom and brings a host of practical
benefits is better than hanging on to proprietary formats when the practical
difference is no worse than the next .doc to .docx et. al. equivalent change.
In short all you're doing is changing the timing and you're sacrificing your
freedom for this meagre benefit.
As to self marginalizing, with your name and no idea of geography I can't
advise you. The fact that I live in a town that is 30% Muslim doesn't help.
British Muslim culture is a thing of its own and Western ideas about
individuality influenced the mix.
