Kept my big spike money for a minute and watched most of those folks never come back, so I get why the 12 loyal people thing sounds nice. But building slow around a tiny group also means you cap yourself at $40 a month unless those same people keep buying forever, and that is a LOT of pressure on 12 humans. My 50 members took 8 months too and yeah the churn is real, but the ones who stay end up funding way more than a few superfans ever could. Treating people like real humans matters no matter the number, that part he got right, but a small group is not automatically better, it can just be a small group.

Yep, my dad swore you should never wash a French press and mine grew mold.

That sheared pin might have been a heat issue more than a cheap part. When a hinge pin goes soft and snaps like that, it usually means the grease cooked off over many cooks and the metal got stressed from the lid heat cycling. Same thing happens on oven door springs and it always fails right when you open it. Next time you replace it, put a dab of high temp copper anti seize on the pin and it'll outlast the smoker.