I sincerely don't understand the standard flaming /about/ the CL community. I've read this complaint for years. But my experience is very different. I have been learning CL in the last two years, and I've found that most people (including the usual suspects) are quite helpful. It is true that comp.lang.lisp has a very low tolerance for stupid questions and a bizarre and occasionally harsh sense of humor, but I've never had any problem with it.
What I find alarming in the CL community is something different: I feel that there is practically no innovation. It is magnificient but dying culture. The underlying idea is either that CL is a peak of perfectibility, or that the world has no more the force needed to change anything in CL anyway.
The issue with at least the #lisp community is that they are nice so long as you go along with their ideas. As soon as you suggest anything might be done better some other way, out come the thorns.
What I find alarming in the CL community is something different: I feel that there is practically no innovation. It is magnificient but dying culture. The underlying idea is either that CL is a peak of perfectibility, or that the world has no more the force needed to change anything in CL anyway.