Yeah, I agree with your points. In the article, I was trying to summarize the impression that is conveyed by reading what people have written about Lisp. I ac

Yeah, I agree with your points. In the article, I was trying to summarize the impression that is conveyed by reading what people have written about Lisp. I actually had the Jedi analogy in a draft but took it out for length - small in number, deceptively powerful, greater than several people armed with clumsier weapons, etc. As for c.l.l, I've read enough people express trepidation to go there. I think it's mostly the tongue-in-cheek fear that CS students have of compiler class. Also, I don't doubt that most posters are courteous and helpful, but the anecdote about the noob who asked a dumb question and got a script to format his hard drive traveled pretty far. The 1% of people with bad experiences are just a lot more vocal than the rest with acceptable or positive experiences. I think that if there was an easier setup and more thorough online documentation, fewer people would go to c.l.l for help.