4 ms·

Ask PG: Is there any significance of the thick line on top of Hacker News?

• msg 13y ago
  It is a black memorial. Doug Engelbart has died.
• tjr 13y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5986307 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5986307
  • vbv 13y ago
    Thank you for your reply. I haven't seen this before so I'm guessing it's a new practice.
    • mindstab 13y ago
      nope, been around for a while, just seldom used.
    • akavi 13y ago
      Off the top of my head, Aaron Schwartz, Dennis Ritchie, and Steve Jobs also merited it.
    • mjn 13y ago
      I believe it was originally a one-time tribute for Robert Morris [1], but it has (partly due to user requests) been used a few subsequent times when people well-known in the hacker community have died. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2712469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2712469. Besides being well-known in the hacker community generally, Morris also had a more local connection, as he was the father of Robert T. Morris, one of Y Combinator's cofounders.