I'm really tired of people being snarky for the sake of being snarky. I think it comes across as smarmy, like "hey, look at this joke we are all in on."
There are some people who are snarky in a way that is witty and thought-provoking. Those are the people whose snark I enjoy.
It's kind of like the difference between someone who has a very dry sense of humor, and the person who calls themselves sarcastic, but in reality is just a mean person.
Snark is not a virtue limited to tech journalists. My significant other is a journalist (outside of tech), so we have lots of journalist friends. They are hands down the snarkiest people I know.
Sounds like you just described every HN comment ever: 'Oh, you understand red-black trees and just scanned two Wikipedia articles? Let me hear more about your theories on political economy and your pronouncements on environmental policy regarding the Amazon...'
One person's "superficial understanding of lots of things" is another person's deep understanding of how humans act and how they rationalize their actions, regardless of domain.
