I'm not going to acknowledge some of this because you're just ranting, but...
Two extremes, and there are detriments to each extreme. Being too hung up on the details, which may not even matter, may be just as bad as neglecting them altogether. There's nothing wrong with teaching yourself something with that perfectionist type of mentality. I get that. But there comes a point when you realize that you were worrying about things all along that did not actually better your beer.
Think of it like racing. There are perfectionists out there who spend thousands upgrading their little ricer engine, buying the best of the best, most popular, state of the art equipment. And then they race a classic muscle car, with little work done to it, and the ricer loses the 1/4 mile by a whole 3 seconds.
People who are trying to figure out the optimal way to do things are miles ahead of lazy brewers who convince themselves their beers are "great" no matter how poor their process is.
Two extremes, and there are detriments to each extreme. Being too hung up on the details, which may not even matter, may be just as bad as neglecting them altogether. There's nothing wrong with teaching yourself something with that perfectionist type of mentality. I get that. But there comes a point when you realize that you were worrying about things all along that did not actually better your beer.
Think of it like racing. There are perfectionists out there who spend thousands upgrading their little ricer engine, buying the best of the best, most popular, state of the art equipment. And then they race a classic muscle car, with little work done to it, and the ricer loses the 1/4 mile by a whole 3 seconds.