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SF Engineer Dan Ha Has Been Missing Since 10/31
- recondite 12y agoYou should post this at http://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco http://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco as well.
- kybernetyk 12y agoI guess that post has been removed by an admin because it contained personal information (wtf?!): http://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/2lhwzi/an_important_message_about_missing_persons_posts/ http://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/2lhwzi/an_impo...
- recondite 12y agoAh, I hadn't seen that. It looks like they've updated the post with links to actual news articles to satisfy Reddit's requirement of posting personal information.
- baddox 12y ago> As Reddit has strict site-wide policies pertaining to unverified personal information, Missing Person posts must be validated and reported by a local news service proving that the person is missing. Seems fairly reasonable to me.
- pbreit 12y agoDoes not seem reasonable to me (especially for reddit) but maybe I'm missing something.
- DanBC 12y agoOne of the things that will get your account banned or your sub-reddit closed is people posting personal information. Reddit admins take it pretty seriously. It's weird what they do and don't care about.
- tedks 12y agoThis makes perfect sense, since as a user-generated content community, a large portion (not a majority, but a large part) is in very shady shit. /r/jailbait, /r/thefappening, etc.. But for everything shut down, there are countless others that are still operating, like /r/FacebookCleavage, /r/photoplunder, /r/redpill, /r/greatapes, etc.. Reddit has expressed that it wants to be totally neutral so that it can model a "new type of online meta-community" that has literally no curation for types of communities. They want to have /r/MensRights'ers and /r/feminisms'ers on the same site, fighting with each other, generating ad impressions. They want to attract white supremacists and misogynists and feminists and people of color alike. So, the main thing they need to guard against is conflict on reddit spilling over into the real world, and the best way to do that is to strictly prohibit posting personal information. Of course, "personal information" doesn't extend to things like naked photos taken and distributed without the consent of those depicted, but you can't use that to make Reddit a scary place for misogynists. So it's okay.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- gkoberger 12y ago/r/sanfrancisco mod here. It's a tough call, and one that Reddit Admins (not mods) have mostly decided for us. The worry is this: an abusive ex could post a "missing persons" alert for someone trying to hide, and get their location. So, we have a rule that a news organization (which has more of an ability to vet a story, as well as a "the cat's already out of the bag" effect) has to cover it before it can be posted – and you'll notice the story is now on r/sanfrancisco since one did.
- abroncs 12y agoThat's a very reasonable approach actually.
- possibilistic 12y agoAgreed. Also, in this case, I think the Techcrunch article meets the requirement for vetting by a news agency. Hopefully the SF-related subreddits will give this greater visibility.
- smhinsey 12y agoIt's weird that Reddit hasn't seemed to decide for /r/losangeles, which has a missing person post on a weekly basis, if not more often.
- trashcan 12y agoMost subreddits handle this but requesting that the OP post a case number and the phone number for law enforcement investigating so that people can get directly in touch rather than posting personal information on Reddit.
- chadnickbok 12y agoThis sucks, my heart goes out to his family :( For a brief moment I wondered if this is what I want to see on HN/Techcrunch. But we're a community, and lots of us live in SF - if it were a friend of mine, I'd be super happy to see this trending. Seems like the least we can do is have each others backs.
- gear54rus 12y agoAmazing how at this point we can pretty much find anything through digital means as nearly everything is shared and appears online eventually. Yet we still fail to find something (or someone) that really matters.
- mrjatx 12y agoOn the flip side, if you're an adult and trying to "disappear" for.. whatever reason you've chosen (it's your prerogative), social media has made that difficult.
- wpietri 12y agoAn adult trying to disappear would not have a very hard time saying, "Hey, everybody! I'm going to take some time away from social media and go on a trip. I'll be back on-line in a couple months. I look forward to reading all your posts when I'm back." In some ways, I think social media makes it easier to disappear, as you can give everybody a plausible explanation at once, rather than trying to talk individually to the many people who might be plausibly concerned by a sudden disappearance.
- Shivetya 12y agoor just drop out of social media without notice, far better than letting know your plans. Its so very easy to vanish in this country if you are smart. Most of those who do only get caught by chance or some stupid act. One recent in Georgia was only caught as part of a traffic stop.
- CamperBob2 12y agoOr the Eric Frein case in Pennsylvania, where the idea of searching abandoned buildings in the area apparently never occurred to the elite state and Federal police agencies. You don't have to be smart to hide from the police... you just have to be smarter than the police. Of course, they have the advantages of unlimited money, unlimited patience, and (apparently) unlimited surveillance power, so staying hidden for the rest of your life is going to be a lot harder than dropping out of sight in the first place.
- rikacomet 12y agoIf the little bit of time this stays up on front page, would help find him, then by all means let it be. You have my support for this. I hope, wherever he is, he is in good health.
- vinhboy 12y agoThey should link to his facebook group page... I can't find it.
- salina 12y agoPublic Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/finddanha https://www.facebook.com/finddanha Facebook Event (where friends and family are organizing efforts) - https://www.facebook.com/events/1498483497100432/?ref_notif_type=like&source=1 https://www.facebook.com/events/1498483497100432/?ref_notif_...
- tonyplee 12y agoJust curious for case like this: Can someone take a missing person report from Police department and take it to Cell phone company and get any cell location traces for those period of time? Assuming the cell is on. Can anyone do it or just someone from police department?
- centizen 12y agoThis depends on where you are located, but for the most part the answer is no - unless you are a member of a law enforcement agency you will not be able to get this data from the cell phone company. Depending on the country, cell phone provider and law enforcement agency, they will probably need a warrant or court order as well.
- trhway 12y agotangentially wrt. "Depending on the country ... need a warrant or court order " - in Ukraine conflict both sides were using cell phone realtime data for tracking opponents. In particular during August incursion at least some Russian paratrooper platoons were tracked and finally hit that way. Young people who grew up having cell phones all around them and they had it with them during the incursion. Gradually both sides have learned at least to turn cell phones off - so far it seems that that is enough, at least no clear indications to the opposite - before entering combat zones.
- throwaway022009 12y agoIf only it were that easy... my brother went missing in February 2009 and as of today it's still an "ongoing" investigation. I was basically blocked at every turn... In order for to get a cellphone log or trace, the detectives on the case needs to file for a subpoena. A judge will then need to sign off on it which takes 24-48 hours. Following that, they need to submit it to the cellphone company which claims it might take a billing cycle before the data is provided since it's on the "cell towers" and it's not transmitted yet. Even then, the information is useless. It's nothing more than what you receive on your monthly billing statement. Police has no authority to just do it since it's up to the cellphone provider.
- mk00 12y agoI wonder if Google/Apple can get anything tracking-related from his Smartphone.
- salina 12y agoUnfortunately, no luck. His phone has been off since the night he disappeared.
- eastbayjake 12y agoI really hope this guy is OK, but the number of young men "disappearing" in San Francisco is strange and maybe cause for some questions: http://sfappeal.com/2013/12/families-of-men-who-disappeared-in-sf-hold-candlelight-vigil/ http://sfappeal.com/2013/12/families-of-men-who-disappeared-...
- jowiar 12y agoIt doesn't shock me at all -- It's one of the reason's I got the hell out of SF, and I'm not going back. It's an effect of the monster we've created, the collateral damage of our industry that the lottery winners, the VCs, the media, and the politicians all sweep under the rug. It's an effect of the "don't show weakness" cultural norm that we've created for men, and it's about time we get over ourselves and tear it down.
- JonMR 12y agoYou've lost me. You're saying that the city has real problems which are being ignored due to the successes?
- jowiar 12y agoNot the city - certainly nothing that's can be solved by city hall. But tech as a whole, and even moreso in SF specifically, is a pretty hostile-to-mental-health place to work. Everyone being shitty to themselves (and those around them) because of the 1-in-a-some-large-number-here chance of becoming an instant millionaire.
- 8ig8 12y agoThis reminded me of another missing person posted here. Does anyone know what happened to Luke Arduini? I have no connection, but for some reason this stuck with me. Here's some background: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7048249 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7048249 http://blog.izs.me/post/72990767417/a-member-of-our-community-is-missing-help-find-him http://blog.izs.me/post/72990767417/a-member-of-our-communit...
- vitalus 12y agoVery sad indeed - his friend's blog post on the subject: https://the-pastry-box-project.net/charlie-robbins/2014-september-5 https://the-pastry-box-project.net/charlie-robbins/2014-sept...
- 8ig8 12y agoDamn. Not sure what I was expecting, but that sucks. So sad.
- codezero 12y agoAh, thanks for sharing this. Very sad.
- thret 12y agoThat was actually kind of helpful, thank you for posting it.
- shutupalready 12y agoThe blog says that a 9-year-old girl saw a man matching Luk's description wearing a purple hoodie jump off the Golden Gate bridge on the very afternoon he disappeared. The police report about this incident was tracked down months later by a private detective hired by Yahoo. Unless I'm misreading the article, it took months to unearth this police report. (The blog explicitly says that without Yahoo's help he would likely still be "missing" as he was for several months.) This is terrible! How is it possible that we have an NSA that is so wickedly super-competent that they can listen live to any phone conversation in the U.S.A. by clicking a few keys on the keyboard (per Snowden's claims), and yet the police department is so utterly incompetent (or uncaring) that they can't do the equivalent of a grep on the incident reports for Jan. 1 2014. search 'purple|violet|red' + 'hoodie|sweatshirt|hooded' + male + radius(Oakland,25miles) in incident_reports_2014-01-01
- hindsightbias 12y agoThis is getting ridiculous: https://www.facebook.com/MissingCalifornia5 https://www.facebook.com/MissingCalifornia5 Anyone have any contacts at the FBI?
- LaFolle 12y agoReally sad for his family and friends. But, what could be the reason for his depression?
- BruceM 12y agoDepression needs no reason.
- LaFolle 12y agoI doubt that. If there is no reason, it can't be cured. But there are cases of depression being cured, so there has to be a reason for depression.
- smt88 12y agoI try to be polite and respectful when I disagree on HN, but you are honestly an ass. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you're just ignorant and not an idiot. When you asked for a "reason" for depression, you clearly implied a human cause. You may even have implied that he just "felt bad" about something that happened to him. That is wrong to the point of being offensive. You wouldn't say, "Why did he get brain cancer?" or "Why does she have Parkinson's?" Depression is an illness. It's not considered curable, though it is highly treatable for some people. And the curability of something doesn't dictate a "reason" or lack of one. Illness is often senseless and random, especially something with a genetic factor such as depression.
- LaFolle 12y agoGenerally what i have seen is that people get depressed because of some painful event which happened in their lives. Like, you get depressed when your partner leaves you, or you're fired from a job or death of a loved one. So, i haven't seen anyone getting depressed without any painful emotion. Maybe I am highly wrong in that. Lets say, I clear my ignorance by believing/understanding that depression is an illness without any reason. But, making a statement like "depression needs no reason" ain't correct either. Both possibilities exist. If I may rephrase, I was just curious about the reason, if it existed, why Dan Ha was depressed.
- jonalmeida 12y agoSounds crazy, but this is an irrational fear that I have for myself or loves ones; I'll go out one day but won't make it at my destination without anyone knowing where I am. I know share my current GPS location with my family, so that they always know where we all are, and the last place we were at before going missing.