I understand what you are saying, and the way systemd is being developed it is becoming closed source "like" by using binary files and such that cant be read by conventional means e.g. nano or vim. I used Debian for 15 years, and systemd has gotten its tentacles into it so much now that it is difficult to get it out, take a look at how Devuan is progressing. Its been what almost a year now, and they have had to develop and modify so much. I was a die-hard Debian user too, thought nothing was better even with the many bugs and issues that I had. I just dealt with it and kept on truckin'. Now that I've switched to Slackware, I don't have any issues. The only thing major that I do different is updating, and that's just the commands, the process that I use(d) is the same. Most other things like burning discs, system info, etc. I've always done in a terminal so it's no different really. In order to use Debian as a base, or any now systemd distro, would take a team of very knowledgeable people a good amount of time to "remake" it without systemd. I followed the Devuan mailing list for a while, gave input, until I seen that the attitude in that camp is about the same as the "pro-systemd" Debian camp that I didn't want to be a part of it anymore. Not everyone, but there were a few that stood out. It's just a hell of a lot easier to shift loyalties to a distro that hasn't adopted than it would to try to remove it. I know that your not trying to be a ass, conversation and debate is a good thing, even if sometimes it gets a little heated, like systemd discussions so often do.
The discussion about systemd being the default init system in most popular distros is over. It's here to stay whether you like it or not. The people that don't like it can get involved with Devuan or even use Debian 8.0 with System V. You aren't forced to use systemd. Talking about it here is like yelling at the TV screen. The way I see things like this, is there is a vocal minority that's going to vehemently attempt to foist their erroneous and ill-thought-out technical beliefs on others. Those who are happy with systemd are going to stay mostly quiet and focus on technical things which are actually productive. systemd has never failed me on any desktop or server. The binary log files have never caused me problems, and there was a technical reason those log files are in binary. You can go research why if you want to know. It's funny to me that people complaining of binary log files are doing it on a Windows-oriented forum. Windows is extremely monolithic, full of binary blobs that nobody knows what each one does, and contains a complete registry mess that has turned into its own filesystem. systemd is good, and I'm not saying it because I happen to just be a fan of it or its authors. It's because I've taken the time to actually do the research and study how it works, its architecture, and how it differentiates itself from System V. Thus far, I haven't seen an intelligent discussion here involving technical things down to the codebase. What I see is regurgitated rhetoric from people that are misinformed by a vocal minority and are perpetuating a false argument that's going nowhere.