Well here's the thing. Most hams seem to be retired engineers. They are used to knowing and following rules and will fall over themselves in an attempt to correct even the slightest error in understanding or application. Not unlike many of us on HN.

However, the rules are actually not that hard to follow and part of getting your license is learning about those rules. The FCC views amateur radio as largely self-policing and will quite literally never go after an individual until they have had multiple complaints, issued several warnings, and have a documented pattern of intentional, malicious violation of the rules.

Their bark is worse than their bite most of the time. Anecdote: One of the most often repeated exam questions in the UK is 'if you don't update your license every 5 years ... all manor of trouble will happen'. Well, life happened and I didn't do anything for over 15 years and then I wanted to get back in to radio and of course I expected to have to grovel and take the test again and whatnot, but no, the actual government body, Ofcom (UK FCC equiv.) didn't really seem to care and after confirming that I was still alive all was well, in fact it was completely automated I think.

Like most things in life, if you're not actually actively causing trouble things will probaby be ok. But yes, some amateurs do seem to be a rule loving/enforcing bunch. Anyone would think they were regulating something actually dangerous, like getting a driving licence.

(Note, I'm not belittling the importance of being a responsible amateur - just that a lot of the time the general tone seems a bit 'DO NOT DO' more than 'do...')

One of the express purposes of the amateur radio service is to facilitate experimentation and innovation in radio technology, and the FCC grants special licenses for that purpose all the time. There's a significant amount of harm you can do with a radio, so willfully causing interference to other radio services will earn you a hefty penalty. You should definitely get into amateur radio if you have an interest, and maybe look into some of the instances the FCC actually issued fines - if you're not out to cause harm you have nothing to worry about.

What's wrong with following the rules? Spectrum is shared after all...

Nothing wrong with following rules. But if you think you're going to be surrounded by legalists waiting to spring government fines on you for every slip-up, you might be incensed to turn back.