I visit a few photography forums and is also part of the hmong photographers group on FB. I realized that when newbies come in and see other photographers work and asked how the look was achieved, the photographers/people who posted the images would completely ignore the newbies, but respond to others. Seen it quite a few times and i'm starting to think those photographers are shady and afraid of others surpassing them.
We all learned from someone else, so why so shady? Most questions asked are related to photoshop and many are just so silent about their post process steps. I would always purposely throw a tutorial in the author's thread exactly how his/her post process was done to achieve his final look. I bet this pisses them off..
when i see stuff like this, i always think to myself like, "whatever.. your post processing steps aren't a secret. I'll spilled your steps right in your own thread."
A MOD actually deleted a few of my replies. the MOD PM'ed me and said, "You should respect the original poster if he/she doesn't want to reveal his/her secrets to others. You shouldn't spilled his/her secrets.." LOL!
some are so shady that if others asked what equipments they have/used, they will not say a word...