I am curious, what is the word for "culture within a hobby"?
Because while I agree completely with the article, when I read it a few hours ago I couldn't help but think about consumer hobbies like synths, photography, and then the other hobbies that are typically more $$$ based than skill based.
Because a culture is definitely bred in certain communities, and whole photography or music isn't inherently consumerist, it pretty easily becomes "well how can you have the best photo when you're not even using ______". Which is much more the mindset of the individual over the goal of the community, but over time it definitely has an effect on the community.
I think I big factor of course is ease of access to the hobby. You buy a synth, it's expensive, you don't know anything about it but you get some validation for posting about it. On the other hand, someone else may hand build a synth from scratch detailing the process, and people love that too. The only difference is that one person spent $4,000 for a craft and the other person crafted a device using the aspects of the hobby. But the reaction from the community is basically the same (some memeing aside).