I’ve been brewing for a little over 13 years. In the first couple of years, I used to fuss over, among other things, how to read the hydrometer. I finally came to the conclusion that it didn’t really matter as long as I read it the same way each time.
Maybe it’s existential. As in there really is no such thing as a hydrometer. If a hydrometer drops on your floor and breaks but no one is there to hear it, did it really happen?