Some other observations about non-The-Bay-Area places:
A: You don't have immediate access to important companies. The huge companies are largely open out here (minus Apple). You can go to a meetup, talk to people from Yahoo and Google about improvements to their products within reason then see your change show up fairly soon.
B: You don't have a large concentration of brilliant people. By large I don't mean a campus, but rather a 50 mile stretch of smart people working on projects and products the rest of the world consumes daily.
Gratuitous cutesy terminology bothers me. As for what I do after work, I signed an NDA with myself so I can't talk about it.
But, Atlanta still can't compare to out here. You mention "things are changing for the better after that post," but one post can't change an entire region's attitudes and expectations about startups. Any change you've seen is a result of a localized echo chamber effect.
If you hang out with the right 20 people, change appears to be happening. The systemic issues of the region not understanding startups or being technologically inclined enough isn't fixable in any reasonable timeframe.
Of course, none of this matters if you go ahead and be successful anyway.
Ignoring the conversation at hand, the reason why I'm going to stay in Atlanta for the next few years: For an affordable rent price I have a badass apt in the middle of the city in a highrise with a concierge and locked gates and assigned parking spot included for free.. I would never, ever be able to have even half those amenities if i moved to the valley. SV is for me, but when I have real money.
I started to write an argument, but then I found someone already wrote it for me: http://blog.jeffhaynie.us/whats-wrong-with-the-atlanta-start...
Some other observations about non-The-Bay-Area places:
A: You don't have immediate access to important companies. The huge companies are largely open out here (minus Apple). You can go to a meetup, talk to people from Yahoo and Google about improvements to their products within reason then see your change show up fairly soon.
B: You don't have a large concentration of brilliant people. By large I don't mean a campus, but rather a 50 mile stretch of smart people working on projects and products the rest of the world consumes daily.
C: Your startup dinner doesn't cost $90 per person: http://startup2startup.com/
You can have all the YouTube meetups and ATDC events you want, but the next Google isn't going to decide "hey, let's base ourselves in Atlanta."
(Also, a Tweetup, Stammy? Really? Tweetup?)