I agree with the author. SO culture definitely exists. His final points are great. However, I think that the author didn't explore the idea of rewards on StackOverflow and how they might influence the quality of an answer too deeply.
For example, things like most upvoted answer and best liked questions are things that definitely fall under my radar when answering questions. In an ideal world, it shouldn't matter whether my answer is the best, or the "selected" answer, but it does. Of course, that might not be the case for everyone.It's like this good feeling; like you've achieved something and you're getting validation of your knowledge.I know that when I used to answer questions, some people would comment saying, "Don't just post a link to the answer, explain it". It helped make me a better answerer. There are also times when I tend to ignore questions that are downvoted.
TLDR; I think the rewards system plays a significant role in determining the outcome of the quality of answers and questions on SO.
For example, things like most upvoted answer and best liked questions are things that definitely fall under my radar when answering questions. In an ideal world, it shouldn't matter whether my answer is the best, or the "selected" answer, but it does. Of course, that might not be the case for everyone.It's like this good feeling; like you've achieved something and you're getting validation of your knowledge.I know that when I used to answer questions, some people would comment saying, "Don't just post a link to the answer, explain it". It helped make me a better answerer. There are also times when I tend to ignore questions that are downvoted.
TLDR; I think the rewards system plays a significant role in determining the outcome of the quality of answers and questions on SO.