Thanks for the support. It's hard though, isn't it? We get the same arguments on a weekly basis. Folks categorically refuse to check out OCaml because of its syntax. At one point the Reason creator decided to just go and satisfy the familiarity aspect through syntax change (still ongoing; the above snippet will get better too).
It scales easier to settle the debate by just fulfilling the demand rather than encountering each such argument and spend literally years debating about them.
I think fulfilling the demand is the right approach. Elixir seems like a good example to follow in that regard. I mean sure, readability is a function of familiarity, but it's also true that some languages have syntax that is more intuitive than others, which means they are easier to become familiar with. If a language can be human-friendly and approachable like ruby or python without compromising on semantics, then why not try to have it both ways?
Nah I'm the Reason janitor. I declined joining the Reason team because I thought joining messenger was a better way to help Reason move in directions products folk understood; it paid off =)
Anyways, since I'm basically doing Reason 24/7 I kinda consider myself to be on the team.
It scales easier to settle the debate by just fulfilling the demand rather than encountering each such argument and spend literally years debating about them.