In addition to youtubers, there's also a bunch of people who have nothing better to do with their lives than frequenting sourdough forums - reddit, facebook gro

In addition to youtubers, there's also a bunch of people who have nothing better to do with their lives than frequenting sourdough forums - reddit, facebook groups etc... - insisting to all newcomers that if you don't cultivate your starter with lab equipment in a Clean Room over the course of 6 weeks, you'll absolutely die from botuliusm. Ive been making sourdough multiple times per week for 7 years and I do as you do - just make a thick paste, in increasingly large quantities over the course of 2-3 days before making the full batch of dough. I do weigh the dough measurements since I have a scale, but I could totally just do it by eye/feel. I make very large batches and once the dough has started rising while doing periodic stretch and folds, I just put it in the fridge and then take it out and bake a bit over the course of 5ish days. So, I really just make a batch once a week.