My Public Apology

Being gratuitously shocked and horrified at some more-or-less random kid's suicide is just obnoxious.

FWIW, tdavis, I wasn't offended by your comment, except to the extent that it makes HN more reddit-like. But in that respect it was no worse than most of the comments in that thread.

(2) Your comment also had a grain of media meta-criticism truth. Falling asleep to die is about the least webcam-friendly method of suicide imaginable. This poor guy is sure to be outdone by a more telegenic webcam suicide, sooner or later. Such is the often-grim nature of 'progress'.

(3) Your comment also had a grain of humor. Choosing to die in front of a camera is inherently melodramatic, while falling asleep to die is inherently anticlimactic. There's an ironic contrast. But as a dying man once noted, "dying is easy, comedy is hard". And comedy about dying may be hardest of all.

(4) People do make callous jokes about death, among friends. They do this especially about strangers and public figures. That's the honest truth. Death is scary; jokes can help people cope.

(5) Other people observe -- and try to enforce in others -- a somber attitude. Death is scary; a sense of solidarity in sympathy can help people cope.

So, is News.YC a gathering of friends, where we speak frankly even if it may offend? Or a PR event for promoting our projects, where due sensitivity to all potential listeners must be observed? I suppose it's somewhere in between.

I downvote one-liner grunts of agreement or disapproval as adding nothing to the conversation. I downvote cheap formulaic jokes. I downvote insults, ad hominem arguments, and snark directed at either News.YC participants or public figures.

But your original comment was none of these things. It made light of a tragedy, yes, but it was not content-free or gratuitously nasty. It would not normally merit an upvote from me, but seeing the mob piling-on of downvotes, I gave it an upvote. Honesty is far more valuable than sentimentality, especially socially-enforced sentimentality.

Some of the critical responses to your comment were truly despicable: name-calling and threats to boycott your business. That sort of browbeating -- directed against a living, present person -- is a greater threat to civil discourse than insensitivity in the face of tragedy. Those disrespectful comments, many still highly rated, deserve downvotes.

> So, is News.YC a gathering of friends, where we speak frankly even if it may offend? Or a PR event for promoting our projects, where due sensitivity to all potential listeners must be observed? I suppose it's somewhere in between.

Excellent appraisal ^^

I'd like to think more of the former. If I asked for criticism of a project here I'd hope for (and expect) frank assessment.

Someone's brand of humour might not appeal to everyone here: but at least try ot respect it!

Why ...continue to be mean-spirited towards someone else work you don't like, when its unprovoked? If we wish to hold ourselves to a higher standard - a civil community, don't continue your vinegar beyond Ask HN for feedback post. It was not asked for beyond initial post!