Does other Audiogon members' opinion carry any weight for you ?

I make my decisions based solely on equipment performance listening to familiar recordings played on known equipment. 

Some members that I know personally may provide positive impressions on gear that suggest I might want to listen, but that doesn’t mean we always agree on whether performance merits a purchase.   

I don't trust the opinion of professional reviewers, especially some of the MOST RESPECTED in the industry.  I have seen and heard too much for too many years to believe that they are unbiased.

I use social media pretty much as a survey, long term general consensus on certain things hold weight and/or become more in realm of objective truths. Individual opinions are subjective truths, how relevant that is to me is highly variable.

Definitely,

You need to simply observe for a while, get a sense who is who, then, like me, ask for advice. (other research of course). Search old discussions, the expertise is deep.

I joined just prior to Covid in 2019, and ended up completely reworking 3 systems, each benefitted from advice here.

I am eternally grateful that the primary result is this TT with 3 tonearms

I met a member here, made a trade, and ended up with a very cool Vertical TT in my office

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/11401

I met/repeatedly meet individually with 6 new friends I gained here.

I only recommend stuff I have personal experience with, so I sound like a broken record, but someone new might not know that.

I try to give back, many of my Virtual Systems are to explain with images

My Virtual Systems here

I'm rediscovering all my CDs (and buying used) after asking and getting a Sony xa5400es SACD Player that is 'just right' for my ears.

Yes many have  carried weight for me over the years, especially early on when a lot of high end stuff was fairly new to me. 

Sure.  I enjoy reading what others have compared, and what their findings were. 

You can decide what is helpful or not. It helps to come up with mindful questions.  

OP, if you post random questions like this before putting much thought into it, you’ll get out of it what you put into it.