I think the beard thing is the physical easy to see jump the shark moment that goes along with no more reports and the door of opportunity remaining open.
This time that will be marked by beards being visible on many brothers is the most obvious jump the shark moment.
But it’s the door of opportunity being open that is more desperate and more meaningful than anything else.
why waste time sitting on the ark when you can wait till last moment to get on. This is why young ones won’t get baptised anymore. They don’t believe the flood is coming anyway so why get on the ark, but even for those that did believe the flood may be coming they can wait to actually see it start before wasting time on the ark.
Even those who really do believe they still don’t know when, it could be soon or it could be a little way away, you don’t want to waste time sitting on the ark for too long.