Exactly. I'm sure Jeff and Joel are both fine programmers, but their audiences, SEO, brands, etc have to be much more valuable. Also, Atwood has shown he can

Exactly. I'm sure Jeff and Joel are both fine programmers, but their audiences, SEO, brands, etc have to be much more valuable. Also, Atwood has shown he can cultivate a large community with his blog comments, and Spolsky has run a pretty good discussion community for years. I think this will turn out well. (ha - totally unintentional switch from first names to last names)