Why don't people like lisp?

[Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters]

|> In my own mind, the biggest impediment to really liking Lisp is not the
|> annoying parentheses and awful syntax... it's many Lispers (especially
|> those like Tilton).

Pascal Costanza <costanza at web.de> wrote previously:
|You don't like Lisp because you don't like some other guy who is using
|it?!?

Absolutely!  One of the things that is greatest about Python is its
programming community, and its newsgroup.  Quite apart from any matters
of syntax or semantics, or OOP vs. FP, or any of that stuff, it's a
heck of a lot nicer working in a language where you can get friendly,
helpful, informative answers to questions... and ones that lack scorn
and contempt.

>From what I can tell, Lisp would be a terrible choice from that POV.
Python is good, but so are, e.g., Ruby or Haskell in slightly different
ways.  Perl, PHP, C++, and Java would probably be ranked in descending
order here, but still mostly positive.

The only languages I've seen with truly vindictive and nasty user
communities are Lisp... and VB.  It's a strange closeness of the two.
All the more so because VB has a lot of poorly educated, not
particularly bright, user who are merely boastfully defensive about the
only thing they know.  To the contrary, I clearly recognize that
Lispers--even most of the most over-the-top rude ones--are startlingly
intelligent.  I'm not sure which is worse though... someone like Tilton
is easily smart enough to avoid sophistry, and yet he engages in it.

All that said, I also know that you cannot choose a language ONLY on its
user community.  Obviously issues like static/dynamic typing, available
libraries, platform ports, and lots of issues cannot be brushed off.
Even speed of execution occassionally matters.

Yours, Lulu...

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