Disagree. I regularly ask something like "explain why this is better than x" or "why shouldn't we use x instead?". I'm not asking because I think x is better. I'm asking because it's interesting to hear the reasons a potentially more senior engineer gives, which then helps me learn more about their decision making process. And in some situations it may open a discussion about other things we haven't considered.

I think the premise of the article is dealing more with random drive-by comments where the person is really just advertising x, rather than being genuinely curious.