So I came here wondering whether there were some real-world scenarios I could glean from the BP readers.

I have gleaned some from the various forums but the contacts are often PM'ed. 

It has been my experience with BP members that valuable and credible information is gleaned from the member forums.

Stand on the shoulders of those you glean from everyday!

I appreciate the feedback and will glean all of the information I can to put into practice.

There must be something else to the story that I'm not quite gleaning.

It gave hope and belief to me, for sure.And, I think it's really worth mentioning that this was essentially before home computers and the Internet were ubiquitous (well, I didn't have either at the time), so it's not like you could just watch the latest YouTube video to glean all of this information.In the end, people are unnecessarily harsh. 

Usually this is followed by something very generic like "If you have any quick tips for me, send them along" or "Geez, things are expensive here; is it possible to flip houses here"  or something else that they could quickly glean from the BP site if they just searched a little more.  

I am so grateful for all I have gleaned from BP already, and I've barely scratched the surface.

This place is awesome for seeing many different perspectives and gleaning the best from it all.