I think this is probably a situation where the term "serious offroader" was used when "serious rockcrawler" would have been more accurate. The first encompasses the second, but not necessarily vice versa.
There are many experienced offroaders with many decades of experience on multiple continents happily traversing dirt and gravel roads and mild and moderate trails with tires aired down to 15-18 psi and no lower. Would they be happier at 12 psi? Maybe, maybe not. Does not airing down to 12 psi or below somehow make them clueless or render their experience of no value? No, it does not.
In the rockcrawling arena, 15 psi is way too high. Soft sand beaches too. But not everywhere.
For me, in my jeep, 12 psi is my starting point for an offroad pressure. Frequently I go lower. However, in my Xterra 15 psi is a better starting offroad pressure because some trips are constantly on and off pavement and I can go all day without changing tire pressure if I only go down to 15 psi. The tradeoff is that my fillings rattle a bit more on the washboard sections. Everyone's needs and applications are slightly different.