Linters save so much formatting time, I don't really see what it has to do with ego. I certainly could go through and make sure all the spacing is exactly righ

Linters save so much formatting time, I don't really see what it has to do with ego. I certainly could go through and make sure all the spacing is exactly right, the functions/properties are in the right place, and rest of the rules of the styleguide are followed. But it's much easier to do when you get a warning, squiggly, or can use an autoformatter to match the rules. I would never intentionally violate a rule, but I might forget a rule or miss a violation. With linters this is not an issue, the machine will let you know. Everyone can focus on the correctness and quality of code and let the machine worry about making sure everything is formatted correctly. Clearly the project you describe, where linting is disabled every other line is bad. But I wouldn't blame the linter for that. I don't know what can be done if a team has such a commitment to their own style that they put in the extra work to disable the linter. A linter is not a tool for punishing people who violate a style guide, it's an assistant for people who are trying to follow a style guide.