That is what this forum is all about Dale, and I'm glad you had a good experience. Do you know why I created this forum? It was because back in 2005 when I joined there was *no* transparency at all. There was no forum, no Facebook, and certainly *noone* talked openly about armor.
When you were new the answer was "I know a guy" or you took your risks on Ebay, paying ~$1500 for FX armor (which is how I started). Only when you got in did you get access to the Legion Yahoo group, or your local garrison, who would give you more information.
"Is that armor recast?" "Hey man, why are you asking so many questions!" was the answer.
Having even this page where anyone could read it was novel and we got a lot of pushback about doing so. Thankfully I was new to the Legion and just kept pushing forward, and was surrounded by a core team of like minded people.
Yes, this type of transparency is now normal and expected, but at one point it would have been considered heretical.