It's another way of accomplishing the same thing! What does it matter? I don't head down to the Deep South (United States) and make fun of people for their Southern accents, asking them why my own habitual way of speaking isn't "good enough" for them. It's the way they talk, and it works.
Yes, let's talk about pretentiousness. Like the pretentiousness involved in ignoring existing grammar structures that are accepted by everyone in favor of whatever you think works and then expect everyone else to conform your unique usage.
So ruthlessly conform to the status quo(te), or be pretentious? Call me pretentious.
Though the intent of the quoting style may have been unclear before it was explained, I now understand the utility. Would double-quotes have worked just fine? Probably. But so did todayiamme's method. Does it offer anything over double-quotes? Maybe not. But why shit on the guy because he did something differently than most other people would have?
The guy didn't ask you or anybody else to approve of or make use of his own style. If it's so offensive to you, don't read it. In this case, it just doesn't matter. It really doesn't.
Talk about pretentious.