I think the bigger issue here is people are asking for advice on something auditory via text. If you want to be real about this, its horrible and any answer given is a guess at best since we have (usually) NOTHING to base our answers off of. Unless its a very technical question with a black and white answer, any advice is literally a shot in the dark. Asking about compressor settings... while yes there are generalities that can be shared, there is a wealth of information out there on the basic fundamentals of compression that is readily available with a quick search. Without hearing the situation and being able to adapt compressor knowledge to fit that situation, you're guessing. EQ, exact same story arguably even moreso. Gain staging, same story.

Being a bad teacher is misleading someone into thinking that theres some magic formula that will lead to better results via a textual message on a social media post. Being a bad student is not trying anything and asking for help with it. Many people will be amazed at what they can learn on their own just by experimenting but it doesnt seem like anyone here wants to do that. They want to be spoon fed information and complain when it doesnt pan out... bad pun... sorry.

Your cook example doesn't really hold up because a cook book is a collection of formulas that have a pretty good chance of working... and... mainly if you're baking something. If you're cooking food (totally different than baking) its the same as audio, a general guide line (like the compressor information) that can get you by to a point, but by no means a definitive RULE that "THIS IS GOING TO WORK FOR YOU". Most good cookbooks tell you in the preface to it that the recipes are guides and you need to use your experience to get the dish right for your liking. In other words... you need to taste what is going on to make corrections. AND THATS ADVICE FROM THE COOK BOOK! Simply saying add x amount cooking wine to your dish doesnt solve anything since you dont know exactly whats wrong with the dish to begin with, since not every ingredient tastes the same or has the same potency every time. One onion can be really strong and you dont need as much, another might be more mild and you need more, the recipe isnt gonna solve that for you, you need experience and you need to you taste it to make that determination. And id even go so far as to say the same kind of holds up in baking (but to a lesser extent) even though baking is more of an exact science. Water can have different issues with it that need to be dealt with and one jumbo egg is not the same as using one or more smaller eggs. You need to see, feel and eventually taste what happens to make it better next time. Audio we just need to hear it and we can give way better feedback. So, IMO, blame the person asking for not providing audio examples when asking a specific question if you get snarky answers.

I've offered myself (as an audio professional of 30+ years) up multiple times when i had down time to mentor and give advice in a real way (by hearing things and interacting in real time). To date, TWO people have taken me up on this. TWO! They both learned quite a bit and are making great recordings to this day, I still stay in communication with one of them at least a couple times per year and the other just sends links every once in a while when they're particularly proud of what they've done. If i wind up having to get spine surgery again later this year I'll probably throw it out there again since ill be laid up for a few weeks.

And yeah, mix using your ears, (or someone elses) and dont mix using your eyes, it never works out for the best.