[adyer07]

Quasi-serious home baker here: think of those pieces of advice as possible inputs, instead of contradictory! How often you feed your starter, and how much water is included, are both factors you can use to control the final properties of the bread. For example, wetter starters tend to lean more lactic (milky) in flavor while drier ones tend more acetic (vinegary). Temperature, time, ingredients, kneading, etc. are all part of a big interconnected system that will have different results in your brand :)

I recommend checking out recipes and the forums on www.thefreshloaf.com. I also really recommend keeping some simple notes when you bake sourdough - what you did, how everything seemed, and how the bread came out. Over time, you’ll adjust and manipulate your own processes to get closer and closer to the bread you want.