I will be delaying upgrade by about 3 years in order to never have to commute again. Ever.

Yes, it's that horrible. Commuting to reserve is a special kind of torture. Imagine you've got a 5-day reserve block Mon-Saturday. Well, you've got to commute in on the Sunday before. Then you sit around the crash pad or expensive hotel for 5 days without flying. Just before you head to your commute flight home on Saturday afternoon, Scheduling calls and puts you on a 2-hour turn with 45 minutes block. You then miss your last commute flight home.

You finally return home a week after you left, with 45 minutes of flight time in your logbook to show for it. You then have perhaps 36 hours of time at home before going back out and doing it all over again. Ask me how I know.

There may be some exceptions. For example, I live in SFO, and I could envision commuting to a line in LAX. It's an hour-long flight and there are a zillion opportunities to get to LAX from either SFO, OAK, or SJC. But commuting to reserve? Or commuting halfway across the country? Or two-legging it? Or commuting anywhere during the winter when weather is an issue (i.e. most of the country except FL and CA)? You've just got to be a glutton for punishment.

This is a completely different job when you drive to work. When you drive to work, this is literally the easiest job it's possible to have. Commuting is a whole other ballgame.

Commuting west coast to endless CA reserve in IAH. Makes me question my sanity most days. Having a wife and young children makes it even worse.

Commuting vs living in base is like two different jobs. You'll actually like the job a lot more if you don't have to commute.

Is Chicago a pretty easy place to get based to as a new hire (for any of the regionals based there)? I live near Milwaukee and am hoping to get based at ORD when I have enough hours to move on to the Regionals.

As someone said earlier, it's a tough question to answer because everyone's situation is different and there are so many variables that come into play (your airline, seniority, trip selections, home airport, base airport, number of flights, length of flight, fellow commuters, etc.)
Though the general consensus and obvious answer is avoid commuting if possible, everyone's experience will be different. I for one never have to go a night early or stay a night after my trips. I typically don't have to wait very long for a fight either. This has made my commute fairly simple and somewhat painless.
If you do end up commuting just have in the back of your mind that there is always a chance you won't make it home that night after your trip.

In my personal experience, commuting out west versus the eastern half of the country are two completely different animals. You don't have to deal with things like tropical storms, squall lines, and massive blizzards when commuting out west.

Delaying your advancement in career by three years because of the commute seems silly.

Not if you can advance it in other ways. Commuting to reserve is hell, I will not do it again at a regional.

Maybe at face value but unless you've done it you don't know what you're talking about.

I do the ATL-MSP commute...it really is as much of a nightmare as they say. Sometimes the first flight has a good chunk of seats, sometimes the last flight does too. It's hit or miss. Other days, it's all negative. You see a flight with 20 seats open? You will be number 40 on the list. Jumpseats are always taken.

Now for some better news. SWA is a nice option because all those double brested guys can't bump you out of the jumpseat. I honestly have been doing a two leg commute. Usually going through Madison or Omaha. Those range from 20-100 seats open with maybe a max of 2-6 guys on the list. Yes two legs aren't any fun but at least I can get home. Beats sitting at the airport all day watching the list snowball and ending up number 73 at the end of the day. Just have to get creative is all.