You are assuming only early career folks would ask a question like this. I'm not.

There are many other reasons that someone would ask this question and would ask it here rather than google. Senior professionals change portfolios/jobs/sectors, senior professionals unfamiliar with going contract rates might want to confirm information before accepting a bid or finalizing their own proposal, SES moving out of the gov't, human resources at smaller companies/organizations might gather local rate information if their budget doesn't allow for a benchmark study, senior professionals having worked entirely in one sector and moving to consulting might not have rate info, or have moved cities and want local rate info ...the list goes on and on. Your assumption that anyone asking questions must be early career is a concerning indicator of senior staff you've been exposed to. Senior professionals don't know everything about everything and asking questions is not a sign of unintelligence, weakness, seniority, etc. We should all value questions and questioners, because the alternative is a bunch of uninformed people making decisions on who-knows-what!

The whole point of local subreddits is to build community and to lean on the shared experience and knowledge of that community. If a certain topic makes you "want to blow my brains out," please don't respond. I imagine that's a horrible way to feel and you shouldn't subject yourself to it - scroll by. I hope you don't blow your brains out, that would be a loss for our community.