It is funny that for a site which spent the better part of the last two years to be more welcoming (which they IMO approached unsuccessfully), this is still the prevailing strategy. And it works, so I can't disagree. Now I don't think SO is that bad, if you really try to write a good question, at least in my experience, the reception is good. But I know I'm the odd one out among my dev friends and colleagues about not being afraid of posting questions to SO. Others, like you say, don't dare.