I doubt that this change in focus is a bad thing. It is pretty clear that this gang is all about making the load as light as reasonably possible.

A lot of my backpacking has been for purposes other than pure recreation (SAR and archaeology). In both of those applications, you are burdened with "mission critical" gear which weighs just short of a ton, and you must carry it, so you focus on the basics to make your load as light as possible. That is where the expertise displayed here comes in very handy.

Backpacker weights fall along a continuum, from ridiculously light (and probably unsafe) to ridiculously heavy (and therefore just as unsafe, as well as unpleasant). We array ourselves along this continuum, generally getting as light a load as we feel is appropriate. Most of us eschew some lighter options for reasons that are good and sufficient for us, and we hike, usually very happily, with the result.