What "gear zen" seems to result in with me is less need/desire to talk about gear. I'm just not nearly as interested in new gear as I used to be because I'm overwhelmingly satisfied with what I've got. I'm sure I'll find a reason to upgrade my DSLR body someday eventually, but once you start collecting Zeiss glass, where else are you gonna go?!?!?
Which means a lot less to talk about here. Yeah, I'll occasionally post photos and occasionally discuss some issue or technique. But my participation is way down lately from what it's been in the past and I have trouble seeing what's gonna turn that around. So gear zen just means I'm happy with my gear with no desire for new stuff. Forum zen means less and less participation. Gear zen is a good thing, but I don't necessarily see forum zen as a good thing, given the number of online friendships I've developed here. But topic specific forums are always driven by the topic and when that stops being of interest, you inevitably stop hanging there, or at least hanging nearly as much. I have a bicycle forum I used to hang out on a LOT, probably more than my busiest times here, but for many more years. I got to know a lot of folks there and rode with a lot of them and even did long weekend riding get-togethers all over the east coast. They were both online and real flesh and blood and sweat friends. Now I barely ride at all, and not at all in the manner I used to with the gear and type of riding discussed on that forum. I still hang out a little bit over there because of the relationships I built over the years (and it was probably close to 15 years, although the forum changed sponsors and hosts a couple of time during that time). But to say it's not the same thing would be the understatement of the decade. I fear the same thing happening here to some extent, but I've come to accept the inevitability of this sort of ebb and flow. It's zen, but zen with a downside...
-Ray