Sure. One whitehat example: LW is a community of highly intelligent weird people. I am sure some find a lot of personal utility in just being members of such a community.

This goes right back to the OP's point: more people "use" LW for status contests than they do for self-improvement.

So, if the OP posts something on LW, it's going to be mined for pitfalls to be exploited and pointed out in order to gain status, rather than being fairly evaluated as an instrumental tool.

Which is why the OP doesn't like LW any more. And why LW will trend towards uselessness over time.