Dude, there's no issue with cooking untrimmed ribs
You wouldn't do it for competition but there's some good eating in the dog meat. We trim them down St.Louis style for comps because it makes them look pretty, eliminates the little bits of bone found in the tips and allows them to fit in the box
I usually cook up the dog meat for brunch at the same time during comps.
The main thing is to take the membrane off the back of the ribs as it can be chewy when cooked and it acts as a barrier to the rub getting into the ribs. There's usually a flap of meat on the back too, trim this off even if you aren't trimming the ribs down.
The rack you had sounds very thick indeed but that's not necessarily a bad thing, the only problem you'd get would be if you had a thin end that cooked a lot quicker than the thick end leaving you with either an undercooked or overcooked end.
The best thing you can do is get into the habit of photographing your meat (
) raw and unprepped, prepped and then finally cooked, even a camera phone pic will do and post them up here with your questions.
Also remember there's no real right and wrong unless YOU think your food tastes like sh1t, if you enjoy eating it, then it's a success. There's people with polar opposites of opinion on how BBQ should be cooked but no one will ever shout you down or be rude because they don't agree with your process (if they do I have the power to ban them from the forum - mwuhahaha
) Your posts read like you're embarrassed about doing things wrong, don't be. Read and digest people's opinions, try things out, if you like them do them again, but most of all enjoy cooking and eating that's all that matters.