[Knight of Gondor]

I have not met many annoying "experts." Okay, only one

Welcome, Araréiel! And yes, even one annoying expert counts.

and I couldn't stand him at all.

Well if he was nice, then he wouldn’t belong on the thread about annoying experts, now would he?

there've only been extremely annoying newbies who don't even care to learn, yet like to act like know-it-alls to impress people.

In which case you should, as you probably already have, visit the Annoying Amateurs thread. If nothing else, it will teach you how to type amateur without making a spelling mistake!

Are there any of those "experts" in California? Or others who want to learn more?

What you have to do is educate yourself to the best of your ability. And remember that when I say “expert”, we all mean as best as a person can hope to become as a civilian Tolkien fan. Yes, technically, no one but Tolkien and his son can be experts.

I really don't think anyone is an "expert" at Tolkien, maybe not even Tolkien himself.

I would think that Tolkien would know the most about his works...! But as I said above, when I say expert, I only mean as far or high as the average person can go in “expert” status.