I've run Arch for years and this in no way resembles my experience.
Yes, Arch requires you manage and maintain your system, it's not a "just works" thing, but that's a few minutes of work here and there, it mostly just chugs along.
As to hosing your install, I've never had even the threat of that. Yes, you should check the news before doing upgrades to make sure there isn't something that requires your attention, but it's not exactly a big deal to check an RSS feed before you run an update command.
Yes, Arch requires you manage and maintain your system, it's not a "just works" thing, but that's a few minutes of work here and there, it mostly just chugs along.
As to hosing your install, I've never had even the threat of that. Yes, you should check the news before doing upgrades to make sure there isn't something that requires your attention, but it's not exactly a big deal to check an RSS feed before you run an update command.