i spent 47 years as a mechanic. a mechanic, to me, is someone that can fix anything that comes into the garage. i hate the word "technician". i also spent 29 years in the parts store world, at night and weekends. i always strived, not to be the best, but to do the best job i could. i love history and i read all i can about everything and anything in the past. the op mentions guys that don't know or man that guy knows, but the way i look at it was what they told us in the army, there are no dumb questions. ask away. i feel that same way. i tell people, i am not smarter than you, i have just seen more in my life time than you have so far in yours. in the early 80's when autos were transitioning from electronic ign to computers, a lot of guys were dumbfounded and scared. most just pulled their hat down and started to understand where the factory guys were coming from. my grandpa said to me "if you don't learn something new everyday, you ain't paying attention." i agreed 100% with the op. we need to help the others on this site that ask for help that we have the knowledge to help them with. (sorry, this is long and winding and was written on a throne like RRR's)
