Very true!This is a guitar playing STYLE question rather than an Axe-FX question.
I was like you in most of my playing...dime it all, tweak and don't worry about it.
I think we were ALL like that, 'dime it' when we started, ESPECIALLY those of us who cut our teeth on 80's solid state amps (I'm glaring at my 80's Crate combo as I type this).
I don't remember exactly when I started using my guitar controls, I know it was way before all this information was readily available online, but I DO remember all of a sudden how it 'clicked' and subsequently the finish around my knobs began to be a lot more worn as a result.