See above about flooding the front page with Haskell stories. That was a real thing that happened. And yes there was a post from pg at the time actually asking people to make the site seem unappealing to newcomers until the traffic surge from TC died down. It is a very deliberate attempt to limit the growth rate to a manageable amount and maintain a certain type of culture.

It's not because we're an "exclusive" or "elite" club, it's just that with a broader community there would be a need to appeal to broader, more general interests that would eventually drive away the people who originally came here for the tech-business related content.