BBQ is supposed to be fun. Community. Gathering around a pit with a beer and eating good food. Somewhere along the way it turned into a competition over who has the most opinions about bark, smoke rings, and post oak.
I smoked a brisket last weekend. My neighbor came over, took one bite, and gave me a 10-minute lecture about my temp being too high and my wrap being too early. Bro it's a backyard cookout not a pitmaster competition.
Not every brisket needs to be competition-grade. Sometimes it's just meat and fire and a good time. Let people enjoy things.
Brisket gatekeepers are the worst. My dad has been smoking brisket for 30 years and some guy who watched one YouTube video tried to tell him he's doing it wrong.