As someone who has a personal website (two actually) and contributes to an underwater photographic e-zene, I can see both POV's though I don't see the need to try to put one site down over another. They really represent two different ideals regarding content.
For myself as a creator, I prefer to exercise almost exclusive editorial control on my projects and see my websites as personal artistic expression. I want them to reflect my vision, whatever that is, and would find it hard to let go of editorial control. My hat is also off to Neil for having the faith in his users not to stick his fingers in and try to tweak things. It would appear his vision is to allow a democratic process to play out rather than create an aesthetically pleasing product. I don't think you can have both really but think there is still room on the servers for both models to exist.