Back now at the computer, I just saw MJ Ray's riposte which I happen to, no surprise here, agree fully with. To me, one of the nicer aspects of Debian Planet is how it, at least occassionally, brings out the other, non-computing side of fellow Debianers. That is clearly not a bug but a feature.
Coincidentally, while running errands this afternoon, I listened to Chicago Public Radio (one of the very few remaining stations worth turning on) which carried an interview with a U of Chicago law prof on the origin of the word 'echo room'. His thesis is that people self-select themselves more and more into virtual communities. The main point here that these communities are all non-overlapping, so people simply reinforce prior beliefs and opinions as the only feedback they get is from people who, by virtue of the pre-selected, are likely to hold views very similar to their own.
Getting back to the prior topic, having non-Debian posts on planet.debian.net allows us to break the 'echo' pattern at least a little bit.