Jack,

No one really gets "blasted" - it's just we ALL went thru the same mistakes, and it's frustrating when you see others repeat your own mistakes!

As long as one remembers these things: 1) Stores are in business to sell you what you want, need, and maybe what you don't need. Some are better than others. 2) you WILL run into self-professed experts both in person and online, that can be totally wrong. 3) This is not an exact science, and the state of the hobby is continually changing - over 35 years for me, and I'm still quite often wrong. The line between fact and opinion is very, very grey.