You hit the nail on the head. Some people understand that for something to succeed, it has to become mainstream, but there are others for whom the original otherness _is_ their identity. It separates them from larger society, so when larger society takes on those signifiers, they feel threatened. Like the fashion cycle.

This article preys on people's weaknesses --like feeling that their values or lifestyles are being co-opted -as if that were bad in and of itself. If you have solid beliefs, what others do or don't do are irrelevant to you.

I don't think tech crunch really believes in what they say but rather they believe that what they say will resonate with their audience and will result in more income for them. They couldn't possibly care any less about the principles of technologists --whatever alignment there is, is coincidental. Let's ask this, have they ever run articles which would drive down their readership? They may run something with some ironic distance, etc. but that's just a form of co-opting their audience.