This is turning into a a hideous love-in, and I'm not going to help extract us from it with this post, I'm afraid: I think it's down to respect.
There isn't a reglier in the possie who doesn't know more, or who hasn't thought more, about something; and generally, it tends to be an area of expertise that's useful or interesting to the rest of us.
Many of us been together a long time, too, and we've shared some major life events along the way; relationships, marriages, kids, illness, bereavements, getting & losing jobs. We've given each other work where we can and helped each other out of some major scrapes. I've known the love that dares not speak its name with the few of of you who aren't riddled with disease.
I will drag Smiffy kicking and screaming into this, too; I think he's a fine example of a recent(ish) addition to the possie who earned his stripes and for whom we earned ours. He & I hit it off badly (probably my fault, it usually is), but neither gave up on the conversation and came to find value in what the what the other had to say.
But then there's Mr. Bastard.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
Someone with a rich tapestry of knowledge and experience would probably know that it's "teetotal", not "tea total", which is an extreme afternoon beverage.
bastard by name