As an aspiring "pizza maker," I can only say you hit it spot on. I visited hundreds of sites before I managed to find this one... and even though I found it, I didn't find the forums until a year later! I have been making atrocious pizzas from so-called authorities for several years... it's really too bad this site isn't more noticeable to beginners...
I know, dude. When my hobby of making pizza grew into an obsession about ten years ago, this site didn't even exist. Back then I sought instruction from cookbooks, web sites, and Food Network, but they were all full of it.
Unfortunately, I didn't know they were full of it, and it took me a long time to realize they were full of it. Once I figured out that they were all full of it, I just kept experimenting, making pizza almost every day for years.
Even though I've stumbled onto pizzamaking.com at least several times over the years, I always just assumed it was no different than all the other pizzamaking "resources." Then finally last November or December I looked a little deeper into these boards, and I was blown away.
These boards are so awesome. Before I started participating here, I could make one style of pizza. I was really good at it, but it was the only kind of pizza I knew how to make (sorta). Now, though, I can make at least a few completely different styles of pizza, and I can make 'em good. And I haven't even made much pizza over the last six months.
Shortly after I became a member, I stumbled onto a post about Tommy's Pizza, which caught my interest because I've always liked Tommy's. I've tried to re-create Tommy's pizza at least a few times over the years, but I never came close, and I figured I never would. However, just by reading that post, something made me have to figure out how to replicate Tommy's pizza. And as of yesterday, I pretty much have replicated it. Throughout these last several months, I've received a few tips here and there from people who have followed my progress, but mostly I had to figure it out on my own because only a few other members have ever even heard of Tommy's.
Here's the thread:
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12446.0.html. If you just glance at the pictures, you'll probably be able to see how much I've progressed over the last several months. Even though I pretty much did it on my own, it never would have happened if I had not begun participating on these boards.
So thanks, everyone, for inspiring me by just being here and being passionate about what I'm passionate about.
