[bootload]

"... He has outlasted the relevance of all of them. His first articles would have been frontpaged on whatever came before Slashdot. ..."

Not quite true. Slashdot is from about '96 and JOS is from about 1999-2000. Could the real reason be a bit simpler as suggested Joel is running out of new ideas? Is it possible the upcoming IPO might also play part?

"... I can’t, which is one of the reasons why I rarely write about programming: it’s just not worth the risk of putting myself out there on that subject because the risk of strongly negative feedback is higher than with most other content that I can produce. It’s much easier to share my breakfast than my easily argued, easily disproven, intellectually vulnerable thoughts on programming. ..."

And all loose out. Has this kind of negative feedback held people back from conversing in past times?

[jacobolus]

> Not quite true. Slashdot is from about '96

I think you’re misreading. The author was saying that Joel’s posts would have been just as relevant before slashdot as they are today, not that the posts actually predate slashdot.

[bootload]

"... I think you’re misreading. The author was saying that Joel’s posts would have been just as relevant before slashdot as they are today ..."

Point taken. Misleading though.

[100k]

I enjoyed the article but as a Slashdot reader back before the word "blog" was invented I knew someone would correct this point! :)