Probably is for the guy that has more skill playing against weaker players, but not so much for the unskilled guy. The real question is how long will it stay plus even before everyone catches on.
Yeah it usually annoys me...I sit down to play 1/2, if I wanted to play 2/4 I'd play it. Annoying when I sit with $200 at 1/2 and someone keeps straddling...now an open over his straddle is $10 or more and it fucks up my 3 bet game cause you're investing like 15% of your stack so it's harder to 3 bet light preflop. And my SPR gets too low cause pots are artificially bloated, so it's harder to c-bet or bluff postflop. Changes the whole dynamic of the game.
If someone wants everyone to straddle every hand I feel like he should just move up. Don't force the table into higher stakes.
But most likely people do it cause poker gets boring, not as some well-calculated EV play.
