How about " Installed size on hard drive: under 1 GB, up to 10 GB, over 10 GB"
Also, “Init: systemd, NO systemd, don’t care”. Because some are dead set against it with religious fervor.
“Fits on a CD: yes/no”. I have tons of CDs and like to give Linux installs out. Hard to find distros that do that any more.
Something about the size, age, or experience of the developers. I like to pick distros that have been around a while and will be around for another long while. Some may like to find something new or don’t care that it’s assembled from Debian in an afternoon by one guy.
Also, desktops. Choose between a few of the top ten, or “don’t care”.
Also, if you say Linux, you shouldn’t get a BSD or ReactOS.
I use the Distrowatch search quite a bit but I don’t think it’s perfect.