Gary - You sound grumpy this morning.
I'm not seeing what you're seeing in the threads you've mentioned, probably due to our respective affective filters. What I'm seeing, for the most part, is people expressing goals which stretch their personal limits, the willingness to do the work required, and in some cases disappointment that their life doesn't permit them the time and/or opportunity to do the required work. For some, the knowledge of what work is needed is lacking; for others, the goals are imprecise. But the consistent thread is "I want to get better," rather than "I want to get better than XXX." The goals are internal rather than external. And we're willing to skip the chocolate cake, even though we may backslide occasionally.