It completely baffles me, too. I've only met Zed once, it was at EuroDjangoCon in Prague a few years ago. Zed did a keynote speech, and afterwards in the lobby

It completely baffles me, too. I've only met Zed once, it was at EuroDjangoCon in Prague a few years ago. Zed did a keynote speech, and afterwards in the lobby as he sat down near me, I told him how much I enjoyed it, just expecting the usual "thanks, glad you did" or whatever. What actually followed was a nearly two hour conversation, over lunch, on topics from music to education to my dumb startup idea. Zed talked with passion and intelligence on all three, and seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing - and I'm just some dumb schmuck programmer he's never met before. I see a lot of what is said about Zed online, and I think it's sad, because in real life, he's a fucking stand-up guy.