> What they care about is his success and how it shows they don't have it.
I think this isn't quite right. In general, the people criticizing him aren't other bloggers who are jealous that he has more readers than them. I think it's simply that they feel he is undeservedly popular, and that his following/influence is out of proportion with his talent. You see this kind of backlash against commercially successful/critically panned art all the time. With a blog, it's one of the few places the commentary gets so close to the art.
[for the record, I like his writing and am glad he's back]
I really don't care for Jeff Atwood's writing, but I don't tell him to change or to stop writing. I don't read his blog.
My only conclusion is that the negative people actually don't give a crap about his writing/style/length/whatever. What they care about is his success and how it shows they don't have it.