Why do we let hostile users dictate the perception of Stack Overflow?

This is a prime example of why Stack Overflow is well past its prime.

It started out as a community built to help others, but as the comments indicate they've gown into bitter, self obsessed reputation point hunters.

Heaven forbid someone new come in and ask a question without having gone to the very edge of the internet first because the mods and the user community there would rather close the question - with no comments - rather than help the new person or even just point them in the right direction.