Saying that you could have meaningful conversations with experts I would interpret as that the method works, and experts probably like talking about their domai

Saying that you could have meaningful conversations with experts I would interpret as that the method works, and experts probably like talking about their domain as well with hobbyists even if theres an air of naive showmanship from the hobbyist. Some slight pretension is better than some saintly masochism where nothing happens at all from time and effort, as opposed to sharing cool stuff that people might otherwise not be motivated to look into if not for the sense of joy that a slight pretension can give socially as initial motivation. Sure earnestness is better but ego is convincing since many of us want to be just as confident, for a hobbyist to other hobbyist I give it a pass. If we were afraid of looking pretentious all the time we would share less beautiful experiences