I'm starting to think this black bar was a bad idea. All it gives is fruitless discussions like this one on the merit of a person to be awarded the black bar up

I'm starting to think this black bar was a bad idea. All it gives is fruitless discussions like this one on the merit of a person to be awarded the black bar upon their death, like if it was a trophy or a medal of accomplishment. I think the first implementation of the black bar was for Steve Jobs. Well, I'm not a fan of Steve Jobs, and I think that individuals like Maryam Mirzakhani are far more important in the course of humanity than Steve Jobs ever was. But I don't question the decision to put the black bar for Jobs: it corresponded to an emotion, felt by a lot of people here and more importantly by the owners of HN. It was their way to express their emotion, other people wrote blog posts, tweets or Facebook status. But it was all a question of emotion, and the merit of the person was secondary. The black bar is like the black clothes of people at burials or the black veil of the widow: it's there to express sorrow, not to mark how much the person was a great scientist or entrepreneur. And who are we to judge emotions or impose them to other? I don't think there should be a specific criterion. Putting on the black bar now when it was not done spontaneously is like faking a deep sorrow that do not exist.