I think the panniers weigh about 4kg combined, I suspect the difference between the heaviest and lightest tosser here is about 20 times that - perhaps we could have a poll on tosser weights?
So if putting panniers one with the suspension set wrong may break the bike, so would every tosser that is not within 4kg of what BMW deemed to be the average GS riders weight - which is probably 90% of us.
Anyway I really don't understand why you need someone to tell ya, try the settings and see for yourself
You mentioned people "buggering up" suspension settings, well firtsly they are complete fools if they are unable to write down the setting before they start buggering, doing this allows you to put it back if you get it wrong - and in my experience you only really learn how to get suspension right by setting it wrong.
We are of course forgetting with ESA you only have to press a button to put it back, so even those who cannot read or write can experiment
You also mentioned racers going on about minute adustments, well they are also trying to fine tune to find an extra 1/10th on a 90 second lap - or a factor of 0.1%, they operate in this region, we don't (unfortunately)
I can notice a click or two on my Wilbers from its 30 odd clicks per adjuster, with ESA you get 3 settings, so it is more like 5 or 6 clicks on a Wilburs / Ohlins etc. the difference between each setting is not difficult to notice....
So by pressing buttons you should feel a difference, and stick with what feels good for you, the fact there are only 3 adjustments makes it pretty easy, I have about 27,000 combinations with the 3 damping adjusters with 30 clicks each on my Wilburs, plus the pre-load settings and front settings (damping and pre-load) which probably equates to several million - you only need to ride up and down the road using three.
Also depending how you ride what you like may not be what someone else likes, so much is really down to feel, I could get Rossi to set my bike up and find I hate it, if your not comfortable you will not ride your best, so play with the buttons and find what you like - the real benefit of ESA is you can change it in an instant.
It is made for people who would not otherwise fiddle, so take advantage!