My favourite Atwood screw-up of all time was on the recent stack overflow podcast. Joel referred to a digital clock on the wall, which Jeff corrected him, and said it was an analog clock. Joel did his customary 'Jeff said what?' pause, and then pointed out "I'm pretty sure I can see digits on that clock, so it's digital." Jeff was still not immediately convinced.
That said, I enjoy listening to the podcast, even if sometimes because I get to laugh at the things Jeff said. But as someone else said here, it's hard to be too down on someone who was a key factor in making a site like Stack Overflow. He also makes some good points. Sometimes.
But objectively, about 90% of the time I agree with Joel when the two have a disagreement. Guess that means I shouldn't apply for a job at Fog Creek :-).
Yeah, the podcast has a lot of that. It's very ironic. It's quite common for Jeff to say something wrong, Joel to correctly correct him, and Jeff a) not be convinced and b) yield in the sort of "I know more than you do about this but I'm just going to be nice" way. I think it's delightfully, if not irritatingly, ironic.
That said, I enjoy listening to the podcast, even if sometimes because I get to laugh at the things Jeff said. But as someone else said here, it's hard to be too down on someone who was a key factor in making a site like Stack Overflow. He also makes some good points. Sometimes.
But objectively, about 90% of the time I agree with Joel when the two have a disagreement. Guess that means I shouldn't apply for a job at Fog Creek :-).