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Let's black bar HN

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Re: Let's black bar HN

#61

Post by clicks »

corresation wrote: post #56
danso wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect that Aaron's curse -- the thing that made a very privileged Western existence "too painful" as others have said -- is that he peaked so early. He did the right things at the right times with the right people, and while he was clearly a very bright individual, I think that ended up becoming baggage that dragged him down, every future effort unlikely to ever shine as bright. Yes, that and the impending worr…

That doesn't refute my point at all. Aaron intentionally did something that would draw him a lot of attention to him, and then fanned the fires again and again. It exactly loops back to what I said.

> Aaron intentionally did something that would draw him a lot of attention to him

When he was copying the JSTOR archive, he went through great trouble to conceal himself (not facing the camera, wearing a helmet, etc.) -- he was caught by the authorities for acting suspiciously. If he had not been caught, he more than likely would have released the archive anonymously.

Re: Let's black bar HN

#63

Post by manojlds »

lispython wrote: post #11
ashraful wrote: post #3

I'm sure the black bar isn't there because PG happens to be asleep. Its unfortunate that he'll wake up to such bad news.

You don't have to wait PG to wake up, I already set my "topcolor" to black.

As a side question - I have set my own (different) color for the bar, will my bar turn black if PG sets it?

Re: Let's black bar HN

#64

Post by thomasz »

DanBC wrote: post #40
thomasz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The news and eulogies are all over the net, so I don't see how denying him a black bar would prevent possible copycat suicides. The stigmatization against suicides as something dishonorable has to end. He was a great hacker and distinguished activist, and through I don't know him personally, I'm pretty sure he was a great guy overall. He deserves a black bar. He died from depression. Others die from other diseases, c…

We have to be careful with the way we talk about people who died by suicide. We have to be careful because copycat suicide is real, and we do not want to cause it. Yes, other sites are being irresponsible with their reportage. HN is not other sites. This has nothing to do with continuing the stigma against suicide or suicidal thinking.

I agree that we should be careful about glorifying suicide, but if you want to minimize suicides, you have to raise awareness about depression among those affected by it and the people close to them, not tabooing it.

If the affected accepts professional help, it's curable. Too many don't, because they are completely oblivious of their medical nature of their condition, because of the fear of being stigmatized, or because they are literally not able to muster the strength to go to the nearest clinic. It's of utter importance that the they, or the people close to them recognize the situation and take the necessary steps, instead of berating them for being lazy, restless or whiny and giving them lectures about how good they have it.

Re: Let's black bar HN

#65

Post by seiji »

manojlds wrote: post #63
lispython wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to wait PG to wake up, I already set my "topcolor" to black.

As a side question - I have set my own (different) color for the bar, will my bar turn black if PG sets it?

Yeah, site-wide recolor (christmas, death) overrides your own.

Re: Let's black bar HN

#67

Post by philhippus »

It's up to the HN owners what colour scheme they put on their website and why. I don't mean to sound callous at all, but if HN black barred every deserving death, it would be a permanent black bar. I had never heard of Aaron Swartz until he is now dead. Why can't we honour the living?

Re: Let's black bar HN

#68

Post by hashmymustache »

Tichy wrote: post #43

I must admit I find this and other variations of "let's use the death of a person to force other people to do things" very offensive. Black out your own web site. Mourning is a personal thing. If PG decides he wants to black bar HN, he will do it. If not, he won't. What's it to you?

Mourning the loss of someone is a personal thing, yes. Friends, parents, teachers will mourn his absence in a deeply personal way, fondly holding on to fading memories.

The encouragement to black out HN is an acknowledgement of a communal loss. This is not "everyone change their desktops to his face." This is "let's unobtrusively black out the top bar of a site frequented by people just like him." This is someone who made contributions to the software community and fought for open access to information. People of similar calibre fought and continue to fight to keep the internet free and open.

It is not just for him, but to demonstrate as a community that we're here for anyone else facing similar issues. It shouldn't be "offensive" as a group to recognize our like-minded allegiance to the ideas and vision he passionately pursued.

Re: Let's black bar HN

#69

Post by jspthrowaway2 »

Tichy wrote: post #43

I must admit I find this and other variations of "let's use the death of a person to force other people to do things" very offensive. Black out your own web site. Mourning is a personal thing. If PG decides he wants to black bar HN, he will do it. If not, he won't. What's it to you?

Do you come across a kind, thoughtful suggestion and think "what's the most controversial comment I can write to score some karma" or something? Because honestly, there's no rational universe where your comment remotely makes sense.

And yes, it is Hacker News against you now, as you victimize yourself below. I sure as shit think this comment is disgusting, I hate that you left it, and I'd certainly hope that people would call you out for it (or I'd lose faith in the community). It's comments like this that make Hacker News look terrible to people that don't contribute, and it's one of those comments that's better left thought in your head.

Aaron was involved in this community in multiple ways, God forbid people express themselves at your displeasure.

It's really sad because Aaron's death hit me pretty hard last night, and I wake up this morning and see this suggestion and think "boy, I bet someone's going to piss in the Cheerios in that thread," and it almost hurts that I'm right. What a terrible place this is becoming.

Re: Let's black bar HN

#70

Post by Tichy »

hashmymustache wrote: post #68
Tichy wrote: post #43

I must admit I find this and other variations of "let's use the death of a person to force other people to do things" very offensive. Black out your own web site. Mourning is a personal thing. If PG decides he wants to black bar HN, he will do it. If not, he won't. What's it to you?

Mourning the loss of someone is a personal thing, yes. Friends, parents, teachers will mourn his absence in a deeply personal way, fondly holding on to fading memories. The encouragement to black out HN is an acknowledgement of a communal loss. This is not "everyone change their desktops to his face." This is "let's unobtrusively black out the top bar of a site frequented by people just like him." This is someone who…

I wouldn't be offended by a black bar. I just don't like calling on other people to do stuff. Likewise you could ask of a widow to wear black for a year, and if she wouldn't, you could start gossiping and badmouthing her.

Also, there are more and more people who go through HN. Perhaps eventually the bar has to be black all the time because somebody always dies.

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