I would now categorize saltwater reefing as a luxury hobby.
No more a luxury than say sewing or HPDE or scuba diving. Hobbies are discretionary income. The cost is what we make of it. Can setup a 20 to 60 gallon relatively unexpensive.
And the demise of the in-person local reef clubs/meetings has really increased the cost of the hobby. My local reef club is now just some zoom meetings with instagram of their tanks, it's a shame that they collect dues from members as they don't even provide proper website or information on their meetings or activities.
Social media and the side hustle are part to blame. Followers, likes, members, members only content or perks, subscribers, patreon, swag, and more all changed the landscape. I mean do you want to share or bank a frag only to find out Biff is selling it on the side as part of their side hustle? Known vs unknown of course comes into play but we are not living in the 80's anymore and values have changed.
Doesn't mean all hobbyist are bad or clubs. Just means we have to do a bit more vetting before we engage or participate and what our thresholds are.