I should have said '...And even when you spring for the more expensive stuff like Connoisseur, you're still left with smaller yields and poor plant health comparatively to other nute brands I've used'.
Actually you should have said that
you're left with smaller yields and poor plant health compared to other nute brands you've used.
I don't have that problem. Not everyone experiences the same difficulties you seem to have with Advanced Nutrients.
As for the reasons I don't post pictures there are several. And beyond the most obvious one (security) the simple answer is that I don't value compliments for something that can't actually be experience through the relevant form of media. I can't photograph taste or quality.
You point to my lack of photographs as some kind of evidence of something. But let's say I posted a bunch of pictures. What does that prove? Nothing beyond the ability to post photographs - a rudimentary and ultimately inconsequential skill in the modern age. It doesn't prove the pictures are mine. We all generally operate under the principle that everyone posts pictures that are their own, but it's naive to think that's actually the truth.
And since there are a non-zero number of people (whom I won't point fingers at specifically) who like to turn those types of things into a competition I choose not to participate at all. Let's be honest, if someone doesn't like what I have to say and they can compare my plants disfavorably to their own, they'll use that as some kind of proof they're the better grower (again completely ignoring the inability of pictures to convey the qualities that actually matter most). And if my plants look much better they can always call into question whether they're really mine. Or I could turn around and do the same. It's a stupid, pointless competition with no meaning, no winners, and thus - in my opinion - "the only smart move is not to play" to quote an 80's film.
So if it makes you feel better to believe that because I don't take pictures and post them online means I have some nefarious reason for not doing so by all means go right ahead. I'm entirely confident that were that not the case you'd have some kind of back-up conspiracy theory for why I'm nefarious and you're righteous and everyone should believe in your opinions over mine.
