Ted,
In answer to your original query:
At one point - it seems like another lifetime, but really only a decade ago - I felt it important to spread the word of Ran to the ignorant masses. I fancied myself an enlightened golfing Rosicrucian, shining a beam of arcane, mystical truths on the pitch-black landscape of cookie-cutter, repetitious, vapid, boilerplate architectural dogshit.
Along the same lines, I was also (and still am) a pedantic, fist-pounding Libertarian - absolutely certain that the Federal Government has become a jackbooted, violent, meddlesome, wasteful, totalitarian menace controlled by corporate thieves colluding with sociopathic financial institutions.
And dammit, it was my obligation to open the eyes of the ignorant for the betterment of mankind. A fervent believer that if everybody actually thought through things, the answers become obvious. It is only the smoke and mirrors inflicted on the masses by puppet-masters that stop wrongs from being righted.
Year in and year out.
Until, in the end, I came to the conclusion that none of it matters because the size of the "market" for any philosophy or idea cannot exceed the intellectual desire of society (or any subgroup) to take a step back and thoroughly examine the subject.
The vast majority are not sufficiently curious enough about ANYTHING to make a study of it, especially only for the sake of accumulating knowledge. The market for this website is forever limited because 99% of the people - at least in America - do not like to think too hard. That is how "Yes We Can!" - without articulating one micron of actual strategy or direction for the nation - managed to put a Kenyan hologram into the Oval Office.
Rees Jones will almost always have an advantage over Mike DeVries because his signature design vision panders to "Yes We Can!" instead of: "Can You Explain To Me Why The F*ck You Want To Do It That Way?"
The weekend golfer wants to whack his pellet down the emerald carpet, unimpeded by intellectual challenge or the necessity to weigh the choices before him. We feed the schmucks their soylent green and everybody is happy. A blind approach shot or a Redan green takes attention away from the cart girl's tits or Trump's grandiose waterfall.
The reason that private clubs exist is to provide a Treehouse where the like-minded can visit and squabble with their own tribe. In the case of GCAtlas, clamoring for a wider audience (I made this argument here years ago and was privately savaged for being elitist) will only dilute the level of discourse, eventually lowering the bar of expectation far enough to chase off every Sensei, leaving behind mostly poseurs and idiots.
Be happy this little corner of cyberspace is far enough above the Treeline to eliminate most of the mouth-breathers.
Four legs good . . . . . etc etc.
Yes We Can!