Sorry if our article came off that way, it may not have been very clear from our post, but we look at startups from a number of different sources both in and out of our network.
As the junior guy in a VC firm AngelList applies even more because I don't have an extensive network compared to those that have been a VC for 10+ years. We are active users/big fans of what Naval and Nivi have been doing,and we led a Series A for FlashSoft from an intro on AngelList.
As for your article, I wasn't the cool kid at the table either (I remember sneaking off to play MTG at lunch periods). I am all for democratizing the fundraising process, and I actually think setting up some rules and parameters around how you rank startups helps focus how you look at a company even if it is "hot."