Your first time

I'm with you.

Look at the bajorans. They are shown as sympathetic in the show, but are backwards and superstitious. Time and time again there are olive branches offered to the bajoran people but they responded with terrorism and violence. Sure, the occupation wasn't perfect, but Gul Dukat tried to make it better. He saved so many lives and there are no statues of Gul Dukat on Bajor. He should have killed them all.

Calm down, Damar.
Dukat, shouldn't you be making out with Nurse Ratchett or something?

Just like the rest of Trek, it takes a season to grow the beard and for everyone to get comfortable in their roles and for the writers to get comfortable.

However It's very different from the rest of Star Trek however, it's not about the exploration of the universe. Is much more of a look of what it is like on a starbase and the day to day operations on that starbase.

You’re missing out on the best episode of trek ever (In the Pale Moonlight) which features the best ~~character~~ plain simple tailor in Star Trek, Elim Garak.

I found the start weird too, but as soon as the dominion starts being mentioned, it gets much better.

It's fundamentally TNG but better, did you like TNG? E.g. it fixes the biggest flaw of TNG, which was how Picard was always right. Sisko is very frequently wrong.

That wasn't a problem with TNG. Idk why people are so opposed to an idealized future with a strong lead these days. Picard was an example of what we might aspire to be. He was wise, fair, and strong.
- TNG was DC, paragons that we should all aspire to. DS9 was Marvel, what would happen if actual people are put into extraordinary situations. The comic comparison isn't perfect, but I think it's still largely the popular conception of the core properties of each.
  
  that DC v Marvel is such a lazy, bad take if you are talking movies I can't take anything you say about TNG vs DS9 seriously
  
  I mean, ask a random person off the street if it sounds right though. Like I said, not an accurate summation anymore, but the popular perspective for their primary vehicles, Justice League vs X-Men, for example. I know there's lots of DC that doesn't fit, Constantine, Watchmen, Redhood etc all exist, but the average Joe hears DC and probably doesn't think much beyond JL. And not say Marvel doesn't go classic paragon of good occasionally too, but their most popular properties, Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, and the MCU versions of their characters are all depicted as being more deeply flawed, regular folks wrestling with having so much power.
  
  I would expect to a recommendation about why DS9 is better than TNG be a bit more nuanced, than Marvel v DC, that's my issue with your take.
  
  I deleted the rest of my comment, because I don't feel like getting into a Marvel v DC war, but your description is still generic surface level stuff and highly inaccurate if we are talking about movies.
I liked TNG a lot but also never got into DS9. I think I need to give it another shot…

I struggled all through season 1 and then somewhere in season 2 it started growing on me. It is now my favourite trek, and having grown up only knowing tng that is no small feat.

I am olde and I love Original Trek. A buddy keeps telling me how much he loved DS9, so I’ll maybe give it a go.
It grew on me too, but it never fully clicked. The characters just didn't resonate with me for some reason, the plots, themes, and chemistry was all good, just, eh. Exception of Garak, by God I loved Garak. Any scene was made better by his presence.
- Best tailor ever on tv!

It is bad... At first! That's pretty standard for Trek though. All the old shows have a bad start and then get really good. Skip to the middle of s2. You can circle back around to the beginning at the end if you want. I tried to watch DS9 unsuccessfully several times before using the above approach. It's an amazing show once it gets going!

I don't know if I agree with your tactic. DS9, unlike almost all other Trek, is about the characters and how they grow over time. Usually the shows are just about some mystery and everything returns mostly to normal after. DS9 the story actually effects the characters. You need to be introduced to them for it to be meaningful, but I do agree that wasn't super great.
- This is true, but I wouldn't have experienced any of that at all if I hadn't skipped ahead. I wasn't able to force my way through the first season, despite trying a few times.

I watched the whole thing and didn't care for it tbh. There are some great characters, but I didn't care for the storytelling for the most part.

First season is kinda slow. I hate to be the meme but skip it or just start in season 2. Unless you don't like other classic treks, it's not widely different just the first with longer in depth story arcs.

everyone must be wrong.