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"If she can do that and do it in a positive way then I think an Internet forum could do it too. " You just compared an Internet forum to a grieving mother. No

"If she can do that and do it in a positive way then I think an Internet forum could do it too. " You just compared an Internet forum to a grieving mother. Not the right comparison by a longshot. Allowing a publication run by professional journalists ( they follow a code of ethics) to share news is slightly better than internet forum participants to share their opinions on such a sensitive topic.

breck 6y ago
I think you have an overly favorable opinion of “journalists” (while I think WSJ is full of good ones, most publications are not). But that being said, I agree there are lots of bad ways to handle this sort of thing on public forums (see numerous Reddit failures). But there’s gotta be something better and more positive than to bury the truth. They were not sharing opinions they were sharing the facts.
- senthil_rajasek 6y ago
  I agree, there has to be a better way. This is a hard problem to solve as twitter, facebook and other social media companies are finding out.
- filmgirlcw 6y ago
  But the truth wasn’t buried. Within a week of his passing, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal had in-depth, investigative reports into his death with on-the-record comments from those close to him. Hell, within three days of his death, the tabloid the Daily Mail (which isn’t what I would call reputable, but is significantly more reputable than a burner comment account on HN) had the 911 tape and the reports that he was drinking and abusing drugs (nitrous being mentioned) in the months leading up to his death. And I guarantee you way more people were alerted to the truth in those well-researched and deeply reported articles than ever would have learned from a throwaway account on HN. If the family had actively tried to halt publication of the articles or if there hadn’t been reporting into the cause of death, I would agree with you. But that isn’t what happened. Moreover, the reporting that did come out, even from the tabloid, added a lot more context and insight into the situation than what the burner account did. And even better, plenty of people were willing to put their name to their words (though you had people who were quoted anonymously too, which isn’t uncommon). I got downvoted for calling that commenter and his comment gross - and I’ll probably get downvoted for this comment too — but the fact that unsubstantiated gossip happened to be true (which I personally didn’t so much doubt to begin with as much as it was I didn’t trust it without substantiation; my objection was how that information was shared) doesn’t change the other fact that the way it was presented was in poor form. I’m in complete favor of being open and honest about the fact that people who we admire and respect or hold up as successful can struggle with addiction or mental illness. I think it is incredibly important to lessen the stigma around these areas. But it is incredibly different for a mother to bravely and honestly declare that her son was an addict at his funeral then it is for a burner account to say “bro blew himself up while he was high on nitrous” (that’s a paraphrase, the original comment wasn’t as blasé but it certainly wasn’t full of either details or compassion). People are going to gossip and speculate on Internet forums, I get it. I’ve also definitely participated in it. But I don’t think it is too much to ask that as a community, HN be held to a higher standard of spreading anonymous gossip, than a place like Twitter or Reddit.

breck 6y ago

I think you have an overly favorable opinion of “journalists” (while I think WSJ is full of good ones, most publications are not). But that being said, I agree there are lots of bad ways to handle this sort of thing on public forums (see numerous Reddit failures). But there’s gotta be something better and more positive than to bury the truth. They were not sharing opinions they were sharing the facts.

senthil_rajasek 6y ago
I agree, there has to be a better way. This is a hard problem to solve as twitter, facebook and other social media companies are finding out.
filmgirlcw 6y ago
But the truth wasn’t buried. Within a week of his passing, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal had in-depth, investigative reports into his death with on-the-record comments from those close to him. Hell, within three days of his death, the tabloid the Daily Mail (which isn’t what I would call reputable, but is significantly more reputable than a burner comment account on HN) had the 911 tape and the reports that he was drinking and abusing drugs (nitrous being mentioned) in the months leading up to his death. And I guarantee you way more people were alerted to the truth in those well-researched and deeply reported articles than ever would have learned from a throwaway account on HN. If the family had actively tried to halt publication of the articles or if there hadn’t been reporting into the cause of death, I would agree with you. But that isn’t what happened. Moreover, the reporting that did come out, even from the tabloid, added a lot more context and insight into the situation than what the burner account did. And even better, plenty of people were willing to put their name to their words (though you had people who were quoted anonymously too, which isn’t uncommon). I got downvoted for calling that commenter and his comment gross - and I’ll probably get downvoted for this comment too — but the fact that unsubstantiated gossip happened to be true (which I personally didn’t so much doubt to begin with as much as it was I didn’t trust it without substantiation; my objection was how that information was shared) doesn’t change the other fact that the way it was presented was in poor form. I’m in complete favor of being open and honest about the fact that people who we admire and respect or hold up as successful can struggle with addiction or mental illness. I think it is incredibly important to lessen the stigma around these areas. But it is incredibly different for a mother to bravely and honestly declare that her son was an addict at his funeral then it is for a burner account to say “bro blew himself up while he was high on nitrous” (that’s a paraphrase, the original comment wasn’t as blasé but it certainly wasn’t full of either details or compassion). People are going to gossip and speculate on Internet forums, I get it. I’ve also definitely participated in it. But I don’t think it is too much to ask that as a community, HN be held to a higher standard of spreading anonymous gossip, than a place like Twitter or Reddit.