I think this is one of the main reasons that Lisp isn't popular; many in the community don't want it to be. This fact, along with sparse documentation and until recently, a lack of accessible editors have hampered growth. For a long time the only thing going for lisp seemed to be the language itself.
Amen. This kind of attitude is promoted by people who want to do what Paul Graham did, use Lisp as their "secret weapon" in a startup. I find this attitude dispiriting. How are people going to realize better forms of computing if they're discouraged from looking at the good stuff? How are we going to solve the problem of 80-90% of software projects failing if people are only encouraged to use mediocre technology. This isn't good for society.
I see some of this same attitude in the Squeak (Smalltalk) community, though it's not as bad. People are more willing to share it with others.
