@JoelSpolsky the more time I spend on Stack Exchange, the more it seems like one of the biggest factors -- if not the biggest -- in SO's success was its seed population of Coding Horror/Joel on Software fans. Are you planning on reaching out to other existing expert communities for new SE sites?
@Palimondo we don't have an audience of laywers and doctors. Yet. There is not much overlap with programmers. However, as the programmers set up Stacks on topics like Cooking and Photography, they will attract lawyers who cook. And then the second generation of Stacks will contain lawyers and doctors.
My son's endocrinologist noticed when I was reading serverfault in the hospital last month, and wondered if there was a health-themed version. Guess I should point them @ the area51 sites in progress, then.
@LordTorgamus the Joel on Software mailing list was about 50,000 people. Stack Overflow now grows by 70,000 people a month. So the seed was Joel On Software / Coding Horror, but the number of Joel on Software people who are on Stack Overflow is probably miniscule now.
@JoelSpolsky Perhaps, but I suspect that they gave it a high-quality start, without which it'd be much harder to have attracted other users. It's part of my theory on why other SE sites continue to lag behind SO in population.
