I'm confused. Are you saying you don't like the wheel being reinvented?

Hooked on Kayaks, Public forums certainly aren't for everyone and NO ONE in them enjoys, appreciates or agrees with every single post they read. Folks are posting in them for very many different reasons.
There is a button on any posters profile that says " ignore this poster". That button has made my time on public forums much more bearable. You might give it a try before you bail on a great fishing information recourse.

Your professed opinions remind me of a close friend that owned a two way radio business back when cell phones first came out. He took it quite personally as cell phones bankrupted his business.. Progress was just that with no malice or ill intent but,, change and progress still affects many in many ways. He eventually made an even more successful business brokering used 2way equipment on the internet. There are always 2 sides to every coin.

Forums by their very nature will present you with exposure to many folks that you would not otherwise choose to spend time with or receive messages from. You can choose to ignore what you don't want to hear or do as you are apparently doing and simple deny yourself any benefit for your sport that is buried among the many other valuable posts. Hope you find peace with whatever is really bothering you but I suspect you might be doing the right thing.

" one upmanship " ? these are the very types of statements that can be taken as an attack by some. Personally, On one side of my pile of fishing stuff I have a nicely rigged Hobie Pro angler and an Outback and love them both, but own neither due to anything other than my own desire to use them when they make my quest for fish and time on the water ( for me personally its more about the water, not the boat ) easier or more enjoyable, certainly not one upmanship. On the other side of my pile I have a leaking, 50 year old fir strip canoe that looks like a death trap (it was actually made from drop off from making coffins from beaded ceiling boards in 1959). It is by far my favorite fishing possession and will probably be kept longer and see many more days use in it's remaining life than any of my newer toys. I have had an affair with wooden boats forever but love my little plastic ones also.

I grappled with my hands for catfish as a kid, Had a pet alligator and paddled a long canoe miles offshore alone,,, but did not share those adventures with many, much less strangers online, partially I am sure because the opportunity did not exist. I am sure if I had, there would have been many eager to correct me / my decisions publicly and I am pretty sure I would have simply ignored them too.

The only person I'm trying to one-up is, well, me. Anytime I make a change, I want it to be a change for the better. I will probably upgrade one more time. I want a little bit longer boat, and I want it rigged a little better, just so I have a better tool to help me do what I enjoy. Torture fish. Bwahahaha

Kirk