Gatekeeping the thing you love keeps it small. Teach the beginner.

Guarding an interest turns it into a credential rather than a thing, and credentials need scarcity to keep their value. Every new person you wave off is someone who would have loved it alongside you, and the field you were protecting narrows until it fits only you. Most of this comes from having been treated the same way on the way in.

Find someone new and obviously keen, and answer their basic question with no edge in your voice. Point them at the thing you wish someone had shown you first. Beginners are how anything you care about survives.