1- no two photos can ever be replicated the same way twice, so what's the point?

I've always thought that, too - because if I was standing right next to that person, my shooting data would be different to produce virtually the same image. At best it's a starting point.

The ONLY time I can find it helpful is if/when someone does something like a waterfall at 1/4 sec shutter speed to get the water a silky blur, or made sure they had their aperture set to f5.6 or higher to make the colors of the flames show in a big fire.

If there wasn't a specific reason for their settings, I don't see the point in sharing - yes, I know we're veering WAAAAYY OT here -sorry ;-)