Volume of posting is not a good measure for whether a person deserves a black bar. People are always going to be tempted to post what they think other people wa

Volume of posting is not a good measure for whether a person deserves a black bar. People are always going to be tempted to post what they think other people want to see - there's no direct correlation between a subject being popular and HN-significant. No doubt many major mathematicians and other well-known people will continue to pass away in the coming years, and some of those will receive a lot of attention from this site as well, even without any real significance in tech.