[greygoo]

I think you are wrong in formulating the question this way. Emulation is crucial to learning at certain stages, and everybody went through that stage. I guess what you are asking is if learning within certain "school of thought" can impact your thinking flexibility thus making it harder to advance to higher levels. But
a) there is no real answer to this question (and it's not quite poker-related)
b) 2+2 is not a bot colony or army baracks, it's just a bunch of personal opinions

FWIW, I don't think there is any relevancy between size of the game somebody plays and their participation in some small online communities. At least along the lines you are implying.