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Guys, unless he actually unveils something, just let this lie. _why did some great stuff, but he's just a man (and he wants to be left alone). If he plans on do

Guys, unless he actually unveils something, just let this lie. _why did some great stuff, but he's just a man (and he wants to be left alone). If he plans on doing something, then let him, and let's discuss it if he does. But this is getting ridiculous and this sleuthing/snooping is uncomfortable. He renewed his domain name. We should be better than making this into news.

charlieok 14y ago
Just to be clear, the act we're talking about here isn't “guy caught on camera walking quickly from back door to car with tinted windows”. Or “guy spotted at beach with kids and mystery woman”. It's “guy publishes new content at his well-known internet domain”.
cdcarter 14y ago
He renewed his domain and then published some content on it, in a _why-style puzzle. This is definitely something.
- deleted 14y ago
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  - deleted 14y ago
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- 1qaz2wsx3edc 14y ago
  Perhaps, I hope _why returns, but he absolutely deserves his space. WE LOVE YOU _WHY <3.
w1ntermute 14y ago
Are you kidding me? This is a puzzle. He wouldn't restart his website unless he wanted attention. Edit: an article about _why, for those not in the know: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/03/ruby_ruby_on_rails_and__why_the_disappearance_of_one_of_the_world_s_most_beloved_computer_programmers_.single.html http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/03/...
- hayksaakian 14y ago
  Great read, thanks for the reference.
danilocampos 14y ago
> We should be better than making this into news. So the most favored Rubyist has returned from hiding with a fun new puzzle. Further down, folks are posting interesting stuff about it. But the finger wagging – people just can't get enough of telling people what they should do and feel. And apparently that's what they want, for behold this top comment.
- apawloski 14y ago
  Yup, you caught me. My point though, is that _why has made it clear that he wants to be left alone, and this HN endeavour seems to violate that. Maybe you're right and it is a new puzzle. And maybe he's back. (For what it's worth I posted that before most of the investigation.) Nevertheless though, given _why's wishes, this makes me uncomfortable, and I don't think it's unreasonable for me to acknowledge that.
  - avree 14y ago
    You have it wrong. The man behind _why deleted his online presence because he grew tired of the persona and everything around it. At that point, people began searching for _why. This culminated in a Slate article that openly divulged his identity. That, is of course, crossing the line. If someone wants to distance themselves from an online tag, they should be allowed to in peace. Now, however, it seems that he's brought that persona back to life. He's posted a new puzzle, and brought his site back. Obviously, he wouldn't do that if he still "just wanted to be left alone." That's why people are excited.
    - sha90 14y ago
      This timeline of events is inaccurate. _why's name was called out on a mailing list prior to the Slate article publication-- and prior to his vanishing. Please don't rewrite history in favor by pretending "he grew tired of the persona". He didn't quit because he wanted to move on with his life, he quit in a hissy fit because he was outed.
    - wyclif 14y ago
      First, many of us knew _why's identity long before that Slate article. In the Ruby community, _why was a little like Santa Claus for a while. Just because people were protective of him and didn't want to divulge his identity doesn't mean they didn't know. Second, I think you're attributing motives to _why that none of us can possibly know. He's never discussed his rationale for leaving, so I try not to project motives onto him.
detst 14y ago
> But this is getting ridiculous and this sleuthing/snooping is uncomfortable. Maybe it is but it's pretty clear from the other posts in this thread (posted about the time you posted this) that this is the reaction he was expecting. This is him "doing something". If he didn't want people to snoop he wouldn't have given them something to snoop into.
- tsewlliw 14y ago
  > If he didn't want people to snoop he wouldn't have given them something to snoop into. This remark is rather parallel to "she shouldn't dress that way...". If doing something makes some people behave like creeps, its generally the fault of the creeps. And if the would be mystery man is prepping something, I'd rather he unveiled it than a cabal of creepers.
  - detst 14y ago
    No, this is him very intentionally posting to a public web site, wanting people to discover it, knowing that they would and now they have. Rather different from "she shouldn't dress that way..." for obvious reasons. Your claim (in another post) that he "made it clear that he wants to be left alone" isn't very convincing anymore. Note that I share your unease with this whole situation but let's not pretend that this wasn't the expected outcome.
  - pretoriusB 14y ago
    >If doing something makes some people behave like creeps, its generally the fault of the creeps. That's not correct. If a woman/man comes naked in class, people WILL stare. And it's not their fault, nor is it "creepy", it's only natural. In any case, this is not what we're dealing with here. Nothing creepy about noticing a website re-activated.
    - LaGrange 14y ago
      That's not correct. If a woman/man comes naked in class, people WILL stare. And it's not their fault, nor is it "creepy", it's only natural. Weird, last time I checked I actually could avoid staring at people. Naked people too. Must be a superpower or something. I do agree on the second paragraph, though — this is most definitely not this situation, it's more comparable to person entering a stage and starting to crack jokes.
oh_sigh 14y ago
No. _why is not a man, it is a persona. Whoever it is that is behind the persona _why can continue to operate as a private citizen in whatever manner he wants. However, when _why does something, it is going to be noticed and talked about.
- dkarl 14y ago
  I agree. If something happens on http://whytheluckystiff.net/ http://whytheluckystiff.net/ it isn't like a celebrity doing something in his back yard and getting photographed by papparazzi; it's more like a celebrity releasing something via his publicist. Maybe he released something cryptic, maybe it's even premature, but he knows he's messing with something public. Listening to a person's publicist isn't an invasion of privacy.
KVFinn 14y ago
>Guys, unless he actually unveils something, just let this lie. Point taken, except that _why seems like just the kind of person who would have of fun making an ARG. Which this kinda sorta almost seems like.
corwinstephen 14y ago
I agree with all the other comments here. You're trying to be that guy who eschews curiosity in an attempt to be mature, but that is not and never has been the type of mentality that leads to success, be it in software or any other field. Curiosity leads to creativity, and creativity leads to success. To swim against the current on this one is hardly admirable.
- corwinstephen 14y ago
  Also, does anyone else feel like people on Hackernews too often leave comments that deliberately go against the general consensus in a weak attempt to get up votes from fringe users?
- zachrose 14y ago
  What is success if not the sole telos of your every minute and interaction?
- gurkendoktor 14y ago
  I disagree with the grandparent, but I think your reason does not make sense. Good manners and success are orthogonal by design.
- dasil003 14y ago
  When I ask myself what curiosity leads to, the first thing that pops into my head is the 80s commercial for The National Enquirer: "Inquiring minds want to know!" Which probably has the lowest correlation to entrepreneurial success as anything else. Curiosity about business or how the world works is different from curiosity about gossip. Gossip is unactionable to any positive outcome.
  - corwinstephen 14y ago
    What about curiosity about an unsolved riddle/puzzle?

charlieok 14y ago

Just to be clear, the act we're talking about here isn't “guy caught on camera walking quickly from back door to car with tinted windows”. Or “guy spotted at beach with kids and mystery woman”. It's “guy publishes new content at his well-known internet domain”.

cdcarter 14y ago

He renewed his domain and then published some content on it, in a _why-style puzzle. This is definitely something.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
1qaz2wsx3edc 14y ago
Perhaps, I hope _why returns, but he absolutely deserves his space. WE LOVE YOU _WHY <3.

w1ntermute 14y ago

Are you kidding me? This is a puzzle. He wouldn't restart his website unless he wanted attention. Edit: an article about _why, for those not in the know: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/03/ruby_ruby_on_rails_and__why_the_disappearance_of_one_of_the_world_s_most_beloved_computer_programmers_.single.html http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/03/...

hayksaakian 14y ago
Great read, thanks for the reference.

danilocampos 14y ago

> We should be better than making this into news. So the most favored Rubyist has returned from hiding with a fun new puzzle. Further down, folks are posting interesting stuff about it. But the finger wagging – people just can't get enough of telling people what they should do and feel. And apparently that's what they want, for behold this top comment.

apawloski 14y ago
Yup, you caught me. My point though, is that _why has made it clear that he wants to be left alone, and this HN endeavour seems to violate that. Maybe you're right and it is a new puzzle. And maybe he's back. (For what it's worth I posted that before most of the investigation.) Nevertheless though, given _why's wishes, this makes me uncomfortable, and I don't think it's unreasonable for me to acknowledge that.
- avree 14y ago
  You have it wrong. The man behind _why deleted his online presence because he grew tired of the persona and everything around it. At that point, people began searching for _why. This culminated in a Slate article that openly divulged his identity. That, is of course, crossing the line. If someone wants to distance themselves from an online tag, they should be allowed to in peace. Now, however, it seems that he's brought that persona back to life. He's posted a new puzzle, and brought his site back. Obviously, he wouldn't do that if he still "just wanted to be left alone." That's why people are excited.
  - sha90 14y ago
    This timeline of events is inaccurate. _why's name was called out on a mailing list prior to the Slate article publication-- and prior to his vanishing. Please don't rewrite history in favor by pretending "he grew tired of the persona". He didn't quit because he wanted to move on with his life, he quit in a hissy fit because he was outed.
  - wyclif 14y ago
    First, many of us knew _why's identity long before that Slate article. In the Ruby community, _why was a little like Santa Claus for a while. Just because people were protective of him and didn't want to divulge his identity doesn't mean they didn't know. Second, I think you're attributing motives to _why that none of us can possibly know. He's never discussed his rationale for leaving, so I try not to project motives onto him.

detst 14y ago

> But this is getting ridiculous and this sleuthing/snooping is uncomfortable. Maybe it is but it's pretty clear from the other posts in this thread (posted about the time you posted this) that this is the reaction he was expecting. This is him "doing something". If he didn't want people to snoop he wouldn't have given them something to snoop into.

tsewlliw 14y ago
> If he didn't want people to snoop he wouldn't have given them something to snoop into. This remark is rather parallel to "she shouldn't dress that way...". If doing something makes some people behave like creeps, its generally the fault of the creeps. And if the would be mystery man is prepping something, I'd rather he unveiled it than a cabal of creepers.
- detst 14y ago
  No, this is him very intentionally posting to a public web site, wanting people to discover it, knowing that they would and now they have. Rather different from "she shouldn't dress that way..." for obvious reasons. Your claim (in another post) that he "made it clear that he wants to be left alone" isn't very convincing anymore. Note that I share your unease with this whole situation but let's not pretend that this wasn't the expected outcome.
- pretoriusB 14y ago
  >If doing something makes some people behave like creeps, its generally the fault of the creeps. That's not correct. If a woman/man comes naked in class, people WILL stare. And it's not their fault, nor is it "creepy", it's only natural. In any case, this is not what we're dealing with here. Nothing creepy about noticing a website re-activated.
  - LaGrange 14y ago
    That's not correct. If a woman/man comes naked in class, people WILL stare. And it's not their fault, nor is it "creepy", it's only natural. Weird, last time I checked I actually could avoid staring at people. Naked people too. Must be a superpower or something. I do agree on the second paragraph, though — this is most definitely not this situation, it's more comparable to person entering a stage and starting to crack jokes.

oh_sigh 14y ago

No. _why is not a man, it is a persona. Whoever it is that is behind the persona _why can continue to operate as a private citizen in whatever manner he wants. However, when _why does something, it is going to be noticed and talked about.

dkarl 14y ago
I agree. If something happens on http://whytheluckystiff.net/ http://whytheluckystiff.net/ it isn't like a celebrity doing something in his back yard and getting photographed by papparazzi; it's more like a celebrity releasing something via his publicist. Maybe he released something cryptic, maybe it's even premature, but he knows he's messing with something public. Listening to a person's publicist isn't an invasion of privacy.

KVFinn 14y ago

>Guys, unless he actually unveils something, just let this lie. Point taken, except that _why seems like just the kind of person who would have of fun making an ARG. Which this kinda sorta almost seems like.

corwinstephen 14y ago

I agree with all the other comments here. You're trying to be that guy who eschews curiosity in an attempt to be mature, but that is not and never has been the type of mentality that leads to success, be it in software or any other field. Curiosity leads to creativity, and creativity leads to success. To swim against the current on this one is hardly admirable.

corwinstephen 14y ago
Also, does anyone else feel like people on Hackernews too often leave comments that deliberately go against the general consensus in a weak attempt to get up votes from fringe users?
zachrose 14y ago
What is success if not the sole telos of your every minute and interaction?
gurkendoktor 14y ago
I disagree with the grandparent, but I think your reason does not make sense. Good manners and success are orthogonal by design.
dasil003 14y ago
When I ask myself what curiosity leads to, the first thing that pops into my head is the 80s commercial for The National Enquirer: "Inquiring minds want to know!" Which probably has the lowest correlation to entrepreneurial success as anything else. Curiosity about business or how the world works is different from curiosity about gossip. Gossip is unactionable to any positive outcome.
- corwinstephen 14y ago
  What about curiosity about an unsolved riddle/puzzle?