Look at my join date and my post count. I lurked for awhile while I was doing off and on research and wondering where to get the money to save. Finally in 2012 I picked up a LE6920. The only problem with it is I now want another one. The reason i picked one up was because of the research and imformation from this site. I went to TOS a couple of times but was ot and still am not impressed with it. Too many fan boys and not enough maturity. There was also too much an AR is an AR mentality when ever I went there. I didn't know a lot about ARs at the time (still have a lot to learn but I'm a lot more educated).
Before this site I never heard of MPI, Carpenter 158, etc. I wouldn't have thought about what steel the barrel was made of or even think about looking for staking on the gas key never mind if it was done right. It's a good thing I like to do research before I buy big ticket items no matter how long I have to do the research. If I didn't I would have ended up with a RRA or a Stag. When ever I hear people talk about an AR on other gun forums I refer them to hear along with some of the stickies.

