It seems like the three of us get into distro wars too often . Slack and Gentoo have been a source of numerous discussions, ok flames, between me and shrekkie on IRC.
SuSE comes with Vi just like every other version, so you can still edit configuration files by hand, as I have done. But when I'm running late, I don't have the time to sit and go through it by hand sometimes. But I have, so don't say SuSe makes you not want to learn. I've learned a lot on SuSE. You could always type "init 3".
Speak for yourself . I used RedHat for years and learned less than when I used Slack for a month. I at least am too lazy to learn how to edit stuff by hand unless I have to. I have a feeling that that's true for a lot of people. Slack has taught me a hell of a lot about Linux and I'm sticking with it, even if it's just for the loyalty factor.

Cheers,
cgkanchi