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I think the Forbes story is well-done and important, but I also don’t blame HNers for flag-killing that comment. Not because it was disrespectful and/or “too so
by danso 6y ago
I think the Forbes story is well-done and important, but I also don’t blame HNers for flag-killing that comment. Not because it was disrespectful and/or “too soon”. But because it was essentially a “just trust me” assertion by an anonymous user, who also admitted they heard this second-hand. Without additional context, the only basis for accepting the assertion is faith that anon-HN users wouldn’t be so malicious.
Contrast the exzappos comment with its top (grandchild) reply - which asserted firsthand knowledge and provided context with references to past public reports: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25236958 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25236958
(it obviously helps that the replier is non-anonymous, but I’m not criticizing u/exzappos for being anonymous)
- tempsy 6y agoThere were just as many people all over that thread that attempted to rationalize the unusual circumstances of this death by pointing to how quickly fire can spread, why someone would be awake or in the basement or difficult to reach by firefighters at 3am with zero evidence as well. Point is, I found it just as baffling as to why so many felt compelled to explain away the strange elements of the initial story as I would if someone said something totally outlandish with no evidence as well.
- mattm 6y agoIt's difficult for people to reconcile the real person when all they know is the carefully crafted public persona.