I'm going to go right out and say this: I believe that riding flat helps you have better style.  This might be one of my crazy theories in skating, but here goes the explanation.

You can tell what era someone started skating in just from the first few tricks you see them do.  There is something about that oldschool style thats so rare today.  I believe part of the reasoning for this is that there was a much larger percentage of skaters riding flat in the 90s.