What's weirder is someone doing something with their free time and NOT thinking it's objectively meaningful. If you think something is a good hobby and use of your time then it would show confidence and respect to argue that it's a a good use of everyone's time. And in my case, I see someone doing something that I believe is an objectively bad hobby and because I respect and am interested in OP's ideas, I choose to share that and engage with him. What's more respectful? To talk with someone you think is making a mistake? Or to ignore their mistake and pretend everything is fine?

It provides more and more meaning in an otherwise meaningless world because it shatters the illusions. Whether its analyzing marketing, influence operations, psyops, scams, technology, religion, people, politics, conspiracies. Most of what I research gives me valuable tools in everyday life. For me, I accepted that people on the Internet will think and do things I don't think are useful, but people do it anyway because it provides them with something I may not even know or see. If none of that is meaningful, I don't know what is. You do you, all good.