So, in my self appointed, annointed and announced role as "that guy" I'm going to throw my hat and a pair of pennies into the ring.
I was in my own small way a prepper when I was married. I continued for a while after I wasn't but over the ensuing years I've changed my mind and stopped.
The subject of this topic is groups, connections what have you. If it really comes down to cases do you really think people as self interested, self involved and outright selfish as the herd are going to be reliable or trustworthy? Most folks would sell you down the river for a new iPhone, they'll surely slit your throat to have twice the meals when that's life and death.
Never mind that everyone you even approach is one more person who knows you're prepared and may talk to others. Even if your chosen partners are reliable, what about their deadbeat drug peddling uncle and his posse or another such lawless group determined to survive who know because someone else talked?
Secondly, without some serious resources you're buying yourself a small sliver of safety and anything that tips the scales that much is unlikely to end before your resources and your ability to secure them will. I agree, prepping for a short pause in basic services like a hurricane or storm is just basic common sense, but of we go WROL or TEOTWAWKI you're screwed, no matter how many cans of beans you stash. And not just if the gangs get you either, I suspect the most successful looters will be Feds confiscating resources for the "common good" to make sure they stay comfy and in the catbird seat. So unless you can fight armoured vehicles and armoured thugs in uniform....
Third, and I admit this may be my developing tendency towards a mild nihilism talking... Do you really want to survive a real collapse? Do you want to see the results of the statistics on die off and population reduction live and direct in your shelter with your family members as the stars? How many of your loved ones are on necessary medications right now? How many will die or become crippled by inches without them in a world without primary care? How many babies and kids and mothers and wives and elders do you want to bury every flu season, or when the crops fail, or when the last of the antibiotics are gone and a rusty nail may mean a lingering death? Do you want to decide who eats and who starves because the alternative is noone lives?
And while most of us could kill in self defence, can you kill over a meal? A shirt? A blanket? A bottle of aspirin? Because all those things might mean the difference between life and death, but could you kill a man, or woman or child for trying to survive at a non-immediate consequence for you and yours?
And while you may decry me as a pessimist (and I am) that makes none of these things less valid. I have simply chosen to address them and amend my decisions accordingly. I shall part well and hopefully remove vermin as I depart, but survive and rebuild and prosper? Pipe dreams.