I'm not sure I understand where the pandering was, and for me the post certainly wasn't pointless, I learned some new things, and it provoked me to think deeper

I'm not sure I understand where the pandering was, and for me the post certainly wasn't pointless, I learned some new things, and it provoked me to think deeper about the difficulty of language design. I read it as a humorous warning to would-be language designers of the challenges and pitfalls of coming up with a new syntax, compiler, runtime, etc. A quick run-through of the items in the checklist should give you a hint these guys seem to know what they're talking about. Click the bio links above the article and those suspicions will be confirmed. Sure there's a bit of snark here, but it serves a purpose, as does the humor. They obviously put some thought and time into this, they have some strong and worthwhile opinions about language design and the expertise to back it up. Now, if it were Zed Shaw or Joe Damato up there, I'd totally agree with you. Kidding!!