In some circles, hiking is kind of chic. So, people gravitate towards hiking on the advice of a friend and though they see its merits, aren't about to put effort and thought into it. I'm the same way with Smart Phones . I can see their merits , but I'm not going to go out of my way to learn or use them. If someone is hiking with that type of attitude and someone in the group told them they couldn't burn a tiny little piece of garbage and had to bag their crap and put it in their pack, I can easily envision a response: Who the he.. is this Eco- Nazi? LNT to me, requires an investment in an aesthetic- you have to have an appreciation for what you're preserving and wish to see it maintained in perpetuity. Hiking once in awhile as something "cool" to do,or just for exercize, usually won't give you that much of a buy in. Thanks to the internet and endless instructional videos, it appears almost anything can be learned and accomplished. I DO say something on the trail when I see people heading towards SAR incidents. Amazingly I've had people thank me for it. Yeah that video on the cat can stove was great until you burned the crap out of yourself when you couldn't see the flame, and on top of that you torched your tent because you cooked in its vestibule and knocked it over! It also wasn't in the video how to erect your tent in the dark with 60 mph winds, because you WAY overestimated your ability to get over the pass and down again.... I survived a lot of stupid mistakes and misadventures long before the internet, now it seems arrogance and ignorance has become exponentially worse. Fortunately, I ran into a few people like lori, and unlike some of her group, put my learning cap on and shut my mouth so they could teach me what I needed to know about what I was passionate about.
In a nutshell, if someone is enthusiastic and listens when you offer solid advice, they're worth the effort in my book.