dude, the man publishes 3 files, claims he's going to make a new programming language, and it hits the front page of hackernews -- Matz has some power there.
It's not power, it's credibility. If someone who has never done anything says they are going to accomplish something large people are skeptical. If someone who already created a successful and highly adopted programming language says they are making a new one people are rightly intrigued.
