Copycats can build the technology, but that's it. All the aspects of the product that have resulted it reaching the top of HackerNews are unfortunately a lot harder to reproduce.
Events of the past week suggest the technology is the only part that anyone's really interested in.
I wasn't sure who Curtis was, so I looked him up. From his own sites, it wasn't apparent at all. I guess he is a superhero or villain, depending on which site of his you look at.
So why is his brand so strong?
1. Acts like he knows everything and acts like a polarizing, arrogant ass
(I've never met him, so who knows if he actually is an arrogant ass. The majority of people I have met that act like that seem not to be IRL. It's often a persona.)
2. Consistently writes blog posts that cause a lot of controversy (e.g. get people fired, give more famous people you know a spotlight to write content for you, etc.)
I'm not bashing Curtis with the above, even though my tone seems pejorative. It's just true, and it's the same way most political talking heads and radio personalities work. Curtis is basically something like the Howard Stern of the YC set.
What are those aspects?
Honestly, I'm not seeing it. I see this as a profound example of the cult of personality.
"Codename: Svbtle by Dustin Curtis"
Zero talk, when it's right in the title? Never have I seen such egregious inflation of a project because of the personality.
And few others could get away with that without being eviscerated as self-aggrandizers.
The ongoing discussion has not involved other people talking about Dustin Curtis much at all.
There is incredibly little that is compelling in what Curtis is pitching (in fact I find it all a bit laughably naive. His overarching goal seems to be to create the next The Verge or something? And some minor tweaks of blog authoring is going to make that happen?) It lit a certain niche of the web on fire because it was pitched by someone with a high PageRank, achieved via pretty pernicious tactics (the outrageous 3.5 inch bit being prime). Then everyone starts their clones and offshoots and discussions because they want a piece of the traffic attention.
I asked in my original comment in this post "What are those aspects [that resulted in it hitting the top of Hacker News]?" No one has answered. I have yet to see anyone describe why this deserves any attention at all.