There are hundreds of reasons why people join WPF other than for being bowled over by competition style pics; for that I suspect Image Resource or pbase etc are much better.

The thing here is that at any one time there appear to be 10% with compacts wanting help easing up to DSLR and that, at the other end of the spectrum, those with the most extensive technical skills are among the most willing to share them. It bothers me more that I have had comment from folks yet to post "I am not sure if my pictures are good enough" than what software people use.

For what its worth, I think producing a competent landscape or building shot starts well before pressing the shutter and is a stage well worth pausing at before deciding on a personal style or further ambition, and certainly more sensible to pause at than following whatever fashion is running riot. Something as complicated as CS may or may not be necessary for the next stage.

The nicest furniture in my house, for comparison, was produced using fairly crude hand-tools and there is nothing quite as dead and unpleasant as reproductions made in squillion pound factories.