Barney or kook—- surf term for newbs who ruin a surfing experience; feel superior, vastly overestimate their abilities or lack their of.

I hate the disparaging of gatekeeping as inherently bad. Mountain biking has seen an uptick of people riding electric fat bikes, essentially just dirt bikes. It’s bad enough when beginners are using normal bikes to ride in wet muddy conditions on trails that can’t handle it or skidding into corners, it does so much more damage when they’re tearing up the trail with a heavy motorized bike with wide tires. More gatekeeping would keep the trails in better conditions.

Gotta love that undertone of jealousy:D

Personally, I live by ‘buy the gear that lets you grow in your new hobby’. You don’t usually need to buy the most expensive item, but you certainly should not buy the cheap shit either.

Take photography for example. You don’t need a $5000 pro camera to get started, but at leat something better than a simple point and shoot would be preferable to start. Like a decent prosumer DSLR. That way you can learn manual photography, how to edit raw, you can experiment with lenses, etc.

I’ve never once regretted buying better gear than I needed. I’m still thanking past me for investing a bit more in things that are still useful to me today.

Someone sounds like a jealous little bitch.

The opulent newb.