Articles like these (I've read a few), while well-intentioned, seem to contribute to self righteous ideas about video calls... As someone who has invested in a video conferencing setup, I don't really think it's fair to expect any friend or colleague to do _any_ effort to make themselves sound good.

People often draw the wrong conclusions from posts like this. I've worked with people who've taken offense if anyone's video conferencing gear wasn't up to their bar, and it felt like a meta-topic that was never worth the time.