I’m not sad to see the writer of Mongrel leave. Not one bit. I’m not sure what Dave Thomas was reading earlier today, but I don’t have anything positive to say about it.
I like Mongrel. I’ve read Zed Shaw’s article rant on programmers and statistics, and I liked it quite a bit — though I prefer his Ruby/Odeum vs. Lucene Analysis Part 2 since it lays out a more clear example of his opinion about how to properly use statistics to analyze software (amazing — Zed can make a set of useful points without using the F-word!!).
But as an outsider to whatever caused his Rails rant, he just doesn’t come off as credible when he makes silly pointless wildly exaggerated claims about his skills and situation and then begs dares challenges asks anyone disagreeing with him (except Humility) to start an all out fist fight.
I wouldn’t hire him. And I don’t think many people would if he behaves on the job anything like he does on his blog. I’m sure he thinks that’s too bad for me. And I’m glad that we’re both happy with the result. Consequently, I think we’re both quite fine with his decision to leave the Ruby/Rails community for good.
In the end, it just doesn’t matter. He’s only sorta known compared to the heavy hitters (when I said Zed Shaw, a number of people said “Who?” and then I had to tell them “the guy that wrote Mongrel” — evidence of the error of his delusions perceptions of his own fame). We’ll mourn his natural-self-selection out of the Ruby ecosystem, remember Darwin’s theories of natural selection, and then dry our tears and watch smarter, happier, funnier people blossom in the space he used to fill.
So Zed, I don’t hate you. I simply know we’ll be just fine ignoring you. And please don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
timeshadel.com
. . .
who?
– sorry, couldn’t resist :p
Hehehe.
It’s even funnier since the commenter didn’t even get my URL right!! Yes, I am clearly not famous, nor would I expect to be. 
I don’t know Zed and I don’t know Ruby, Mongrel etc. But I do know that having good business knowledge and knowing how to use it are two separate things. I thought Zed had a good perspective on software but he’ll always be “used” for his skills and never let out of the dungeon into the public.
Dave must be reading Slashdot. I wonder how long before he responds on his blog (maybe never).
I tell people I know Tim Shadel all the time. Gets me into parties.
[...] So, Zed spewed. Since I guess I’m now a Rails “professional”, I guess I’m supposed to have some sort of up-in-arms opinion. [...]
You should listen to this http://rubiverse.com/podcasts/4-zed-shaw-on-leaving-ruby, it is a good follow up to his rant.