While it's not 100% certain, the fact that there appears to be a biological adaptation that makes us seek status and avoid losing status strongly suggests that the author is underestimating the importance of status in human society.
For example: "we find that status is significantly associated with men’s reproductive success, consistent with an evolved basis for status pursuit."
When exposed to modern/ internet-scale communities, it could be that there are so many false-positive threats to one’s status that the advice to (generally) not worry too much about it is good advice.
Our innate desire for sweets comes to mind.
However, the author just assumes that is maladaptive, and that's a big and largely unwarranted assumption to make, particularly considering the presence of a biological adaptation. (I also didn't see internet communities as the main focus of the article, it seemed about status in general and in all contexts)
Also, just because something is maladaptive in some ways or some parts of the environment does not mean it is maladaptive overall. Nature makes compromises in her creature all the time, she has to! For an extreme example, look up female Hyenas...
https://africageographic.com/stories/good-bad-gory-birth-hye...