4 ms·

What if _why was the person who motivated you most for picking a career in programming? _why's persona is an inspiration to see programming and life in a differ

What if _why was the person who motivated you most for picking a career in programming? _why's persona is an inspiration to see programming and life in a different light for some people (myself included).

jacquesm 16y ago
I don't know what would be the appropriate way to worship such a person, maybe a little altar or something? A blog entry on how he inspired you, how he changed your views on programming and life? That would do it I think.
- jrockway 16y ago
  But the drawings in his Ruby book were really cute!
- mapleoin 16y ago
  How about hacking just for the fun and joy of it? Like the website proposes. @jacquesm (replying here because it seems I've exceeded the reply limit) How about hacking on something that really has no purpose other than just being fun. Like a game. It doesn't bring any material rewards, but just stands on itself as something fun to do with a computer. Something like, perhaps, a small c library for writing chiptune-style songs in c or ruby. you know: the sounds of ataris, gameboys and the like. [1] [1] http://github.com/mental/bloopsaphone#readme http://github.com/mental/bloopsaphone#readme
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    I'm not sure how to go about saying this without stepping on a whole pile of very long toes, but there is an element of cult worship in this that I find bordering on the unhealthy. I'm already hacking for the fun and joy of it, if it wouldn't be fun and it wouldn't give me joy I'd be doing something else in stead. There's a parallel in there somewhere that reminds me of Brian telling the crowd 'you are all individuals' and wanting for the crowd to go away. But instead they keep chasing him and want signs and worship him.
    - helium 16y ago
      So people respecting someones work is related to cult worship to you? What about the millions of websites on the internet dedicated to some Hollywood actress or rapper? Are they also engaged in cult worship? At least _why gave some people some intellectual stimulation as opposed singing yet another overproduced silly song about how rich you are
      - jacquesm 16y ago
        If someone erases their total contribution to the web in response to a bunch of stalking and closes all doors and avenues through which you can reach him that counts as a very powerful signal to me that he would like the whole thing to go away. I could be wrong in that, maybe that's not his intention but it certainly feels that way to me.
        helium 16y ago
        How do you know that is the reason he erased his presence on the internet? As far as I know that is pure speculation.
        khafra 16y ago
        We punish him for disappearing the way he did by celebrating his impact and work.
        mechanical_fish 16y ago
        This is funny but perhaps a little strong. A better way to say it is: You don't have the power to uncreate the things you make, espcially if they are in the public domain. You can disclaim them -- which _why's creator has evidently done -- but you can't ask people to pretend they don't exist. Time doesn't work that way. George effing Lucas may wish to pretend that the Star Wars Christmas Special never happened, and beg that the original prints of Star Wars -- the version that actually made all the money and the fans -- never be shown again, but we don't have to listen to him and we don't.
- pavs 16y ago
  > I don't know what would be the appropriate way to worship such a person, maybe a little altar or something? Whats with the snarky condescending remark? Why does someone needs to be either dead or have world shattering contribution to humanity for others to appreciate their contribution or even existence? I didn't even know this guy until recently, but I just went through some of his writing and (to me) it showed a person with creativity who put a lot of effort in his work and some people really appreciates that. And this small group of people who liked his work wants to put aside one day to celebrate his contribution. So they had an option between selecting a random day or a day that this person stopped his online persona. Let them celebrate, you don't have to be a dick about it.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    > Whats with the snarky condescending remark? It's only snarky and condescending because you pull it out of context. > Why does someone needs to be either dead or have world shattering contribution to humanity for others to appreciate their contribution or even existence? There are 365 days in a year, and this particular person has at least in my opinion clearly indicated that he no longer wants to be part of the whole thing and would like it all to stop. Continuing the _why saga appears to be in direct opposition of what the prime entity in this whole thing wants, so how could that be celebrating it?
- rue 16y ago
  > A blog entry on how he inspired you, how he changed your views on programming and life? What is some "blog entry" compared to actually writing some code? Edit: to a hacker, that is. You all business types around I dunno about.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    A way to pass the torch to those that can't program yet.
fedesilva 16y ago
I wonder if this kind of ... "homage" is what made him vanish.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I don't think he ever counted on the amount and kind of following that he collected, never mind the stalkers. http://mwhenry.com/blog/tag/_why/ http://mwhenry.com/blog/tag/_why/

jacquesm 16y ago

I don't know what would be the appropriate way to worship such a person, maybe a little altar or something? A blog entry on how he inspired you, how he changed your views on programming and life? That would do it I think.

jrockway 16y ago
But the drawings in his Ruby book were really cute!
mapleoin 16y ago
How about hacking just for the fun and joy of it? Like the website proposes. @jacquesm (replying here because it seems I've exceeded the reply limit) How about hacking on something that really has no purpose other than just being fun. Like a game. It doesn't bring any material rewards, but just stands on itself as something fun to do with a computer. Something like, perhaps, a small c library for writing chiptune-style songs in c or ruby. you know: the sounds of ataris, gameboys and the like. [1] [1] http://github.com/mental/bloopsaphone#readme http://github.com/mental/bloopsaphone#readme
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I'm not sure how to go about saying this without stepping on a whole pile of very long toes, but there is an element of cult worship in this that I find bordering on the unhealthy. I'm already hacking for the fun and joy of it, if it wouldn't be fun and it wouldn't give me joy I'd be doing something else in stead. There's a parallel in there somewhere that reminds me of Brian telling the crowd 'you are all individuals' and wanting for the crowd to go away. But instead they keep chasing him and want signs and worship him.
  - helium 16y ago
    So people respecting someones work is related to cult worship to you? What about the millions of websites on the internet dedicated to some Hollywood actress or rapper? Are they also engaged in cult worship? At least _why gave some people some intellectual stimulation as opposed singing yet another overproduced silly song about how rich you are
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      If someone erases their total contribution to the web in response to a bunch of stalking and closes all doors and avenues through which you can reach him that counts as a very powerful signal to me that he would like the whole thing to go away. I could be wrong in that, maybe that's not his intention but it certainly feels that way to me.
      - helium 16y ago
        How do you know that is the reason he erased his presence on the internet? As far as I know that is pure speculation.
      - khafra 16y ago
        We punish him for disappearing the way he did by celebrating his impact and work.
        mechanical_fish 16y ago
        This is funny but perhaps a little strong. A better way to say it is: You don't have the power to uncreate the things you make, espcially if they are in the public domain. You can disclaim them -- which _why's creator has evidently done -- but you can't ask people to pretend they don't exist. Time doesn't work that way. George effing Lucas may wish to pretend that the Star Wars Christmas Special never happened, and beg that the original prints of Star Wars -- the version that actually made all the money and the fans -- never be shown again, but we don't have to listen to him and we don't.
pavs 16y ago
> I don't know what would be the appropriate way to worship such a person, maybe a little altar or something? Whats with the snarky condescending remark? Why does someone needs to be either dead or have world shattering contribution to humanity for others to appreciate their contribution or even existence? I didn't even know this guy until recently, but I just went through some of his writing and (to me) it showed a person with creativity who put a lot of effort in his work and some people really appreciates that. And this small group of people who liked his work wants to put aside one day to celebrate his contribution. So they had an option between selecting a random day or a day that this person stopped his online persona. Let them celebrate, you don't have to be a dick about it.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  > Whats with the snarky condescending remark? It's only snarky and condescending because you pull it out of context. > Why does someone needs to be either dead or have world shattering contribution to humanity for others to appreciate their contribution or even existence? There are 365 days in a year, and this particular person has at least in my opinion clearly indicated that he no longer wants to be part of the whole thing and would like it all to stop. Continuing the _why saga appears to be in direct opposition of what the prime entity in this whole thing wants, so how could that be celebrating it?
rue 16y ago
> A blog entry on how he inspired you, how he changed your views on programming and life? What is some "blog entry" compared to actually writing some code? Edit: to a hacker, that is. You all business types around I dunno about.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  A way to pass the torch to those that can't program yet.

fedesilva 16y ago

I wonder if this kind of ... "homage" is what made him vanish.

jacquesm 16y ago
I don't think he ever counted on the amount and kind of following that he collected, never mind the stalkers. http://mwhenry.com/blog/tag/_why/ http://mwhenry.com/blog/tag/_why/