Celebrate Whyday | Hacker News Reader

Celebrate Whyday

whyday.org

225 pointsbinbasti78 comments

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that such a cheerful character has ended up being so polarizing. People both lionize and demonize this guy, and neither one is fair. _Why is not the greatest genius who ever lived, but he inspired a lot of people to get into programming, is a very witty and creative person, and a pretty damn good hacker as well. I could think of far worse people to honor.

I think he's polarizing for two reasons:

1. He was so whimsical. Some people just can't cope with whimsy. To them, the world is a serious place for serious business (like programming). Others wanted to dance to his tune, and were glad to join the parade, but wanted someone out else front. _why was a great drum major.

2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.

When emotions get involved, you get the polarization. Simple as that. Whatever else you say about the guy, he was a great storyteller.

>2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.

I think he knew that they were in git, so nothing would really be lost.

While this is mostly true, not everything of his was in git. I would give almost anything to have a copy of the source code for hackety.org, for example. I had to reverse-engineer the calls Hackety Hack was making to the site.

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I think a lot of people really loved _why, but were hurt that he left and by the way he left. So hating the guy is a lot closer to caring than you might think.

_why gave Rubyists permission to have fun, make messes, and not take yourself seriously. Thanks _why for inspiring me to Try Ruby. I'm teaching my 8 year old son some Ruby today in your honor.

A year later, I'm still bitter about this.

There are very few people I've ever admired as much as this guy. He had a fantastic attitude towards programming, absolutely one of a kind.

If he had to sacrifice that for the sake of his real life, I could accept that. But if he really wanted privacy, he could have just stopped participating and let himself fade into obscurity.

Instead, he threw a tantrum and nuked all his sites. He didn't want privacy, he wanted to drop a big drama bomb on everyone. He's not the first person I've known to pull the disappearing act and it's not something I admire or want to celebrate, it's just jeuvenile and petty.

With the persona he had created I think it would've been sadder to watch it fade into obscurity rather than go out with a bang.

At the very least, he could have done something dramatic yet positive. Pulling down all his code like that, I really think he was out to spite everyone.

When someone gives you a bunch of stuff that you are able to use for a while and then decides to retract it that's still a net positive to you.

You have no right to continue to demand he makes his work available to you.

> I really think he was out to spite everyone.

If that were the case he would have never written it in the first place.

> If that were the case he would have never written it in the first place.

Or written it with some license that stipulates it cannot be used in either closed source or any open source applications, only for 'educational' use. Worse, he could have tried to do it retroactively.

I doubt he had that intention.

>You have no right to continue to demand he makes his work available to you.

He has every right to demand it.

I have no idea what he was thinking about then when he took his stuff down, so you may be right. But having read his work for a few years I don't think it was spite; that just doesn't seem like him.

He worked for years on code and writings with free licenses - so for the most part he didn't really "delete" his work, but rather just stopped distributing it. He must have been aware of this fact when he took his sites/accounts down.

In fact, I didn't hear of _why until he disappeared, and @jresig made his testimonial to him. Now retrospectively, I admire his creativity and humor... including an appreciation for his virtual "death", if it was meant to be a part of his overall character.

That said, I appreciate that people have made all of his works available online, and those projects stand on their own merits. I don't find much value in celebrating _why himself, since that's his personal project, not ours.

On the contrary. _why is an idea more than a man. On a certain level I'd say he closed up shop to make the character a shared memory rather than an individual.

You seem to imply that there is no option between those two extremes.

However, what about a nice goodbye message, handing over the running sites to some predecessor(s)?

I always said he was just burning his guitar.

Exactly! Also, I think his disappearance was a strong statement, too (we just don't know what it is). He appeared to be whimsical, but if you read his writings (since I don't know any Ruby this is all I can do) you quickly see that he is anything but. It is obvious that a lot of thought and planning has gone into those "whimsical" essays.

Do you have a link to his blog? (It's a hard thing to search for.)

AFAIK, he didn't have a blog proper. But his writing can be found here: http://viewsourcecode.org/why/. I reread The Poignant Guide every now and then.

He did not owe you a damn thing.

The moderation in this thread is the weirdest. _why seems to bring out controversy like nothing else, not even politics does.

You probably haven't been to a tea party protest

Rarely do our heroes owe us anything. Greatness requires a higher standard than simply being debt-free.

A year later, this hardly seems like something to get worked up over. Wasn't part of his popularity due to not taking himself too seriously?

Martin Luther King day cool.

Nelson Mandela day, I can see why ;), even if his life didn't affect me personally in any way.

I can think of plenty of people where it would be appropriate to commemorate their passing (And both Mandela and 'why' (the person, not the alias) are still alive) by naming a day for them.

But whyday?

What if _why was the person who motivated you most for picking a career in programming? _why's persona is an inspiration to see programming and life in a different light for some people (myself included).

I don't know what would be the appropriate way to worship such a person, maybe a little altar or something?

A blog entry on how he inspired you, how he changed your views on programming and life?

That would do it I think.

But the drawings in his Ruby book were really cute!

How about hacking just for the fun and joy of it? Like the website proposes.

@jacquesm (replying here because it seems I've exceeded the reply limit)

How about hacking on something that really has no purpose other than just being fun. Like a game. It doesn't bring any material rewards, but just stands on itself as something fun to do with a computer. Something like, perhaps, a small c library for writing chiptune-style songs in c or ruby. you know: the sounds of ataris, gameboys and the like. [1]

[1] http://github.com/mental/bloopsaphone#readme

I'm not sure how to go about saying this without stepping on a whole pile of very long toes, but there is an element of cult worship in this that I find bordering on the unhealthy.

I'm already hacking for the fun and joy of it, if it wouldn't be fun and it wouldn't give me joy I'd be doing something else in stead.

There's a parallel in there somewhere that reminds me of Brian telling the crowd 'you are all individuals' and wanting for the crowd to go away. But instead they keep chasing him and want signs and worship him.

So people respecting someones work is related to cult worship to you? What about the millions of websites on the internet dedicated to some Hollywood actress or rapper? Are they also engaged in cult worship? At least _why gave some people some intellectual stimulation as opposed singing yet another overproduced silly song about how rich you are

If someone erases their total contribution to the web in response to a bunch of stalking and closes all doors and avenues through which you can reach him that counts as a very powerful signal to me that he would like the whole thing to go away.

I could be wrong in that, maybe that's not his intention but it certainly feels that way to me.

How do you know that is the reason he erased his presence on the internet? As far as I know that is pure speculation.

We punish him for disappearing the way he did by celebrating his impact and work.

This is funny but perhaps a little strong. A better way to say it is: You don't have the power to uncreate the things you make, espcially if they are in the public domain. You can disclaim them -- which _why's creator has evidently done -- but you can't ask people to pretend they don't exist. Time doesn't work that way.

George effing Lucas may wish to pretend that the Star Wars Christmas Special never happened, and beg that the original prints of Star Wars -- the version that actually made all the money and the fans -- never be shown again, but we don't have to listen to him and we don't.

But George effing Lucas might take exception at you naming a day after him, it's his name after all.

This is not about naming a day for 'the poignant guide to ruby', it's about naming a day for the persona, and trying to leverage off the name of that persona, even after that persona (or rather the person behind it) has expressed his desire to be out of it in a way that left little to the imagination.

Any of this could be done just fine without attaching the '_why' moniker to it.

But that how would you refer to it? I'm not being snarky. If we're going to have a day recognizing how great it is that we invented these things that we could sit in, it's going to be hard not to use the word "chair."

Invent something original, just like _why did, then build it up over time.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Jacques, I really enjoy your writing, but you do realize you're talking about cult worship on HN… and you're not even talking about the cult worship of PG? :)

_why was unique. And he was a gentle, sensitive soul. And now, for all intents and purposes, he's gone. I didn't hassle him; you didn't hassle him; and yet because of the hassling, he left.

WhyDay is not about _why, it's about how people feel about _why. Those of us who didn't care what his real name is, only that he cared to share his humor and code with us.

FTR… I met _why at the first RailsConf, and I asked him to sign my t-shirt. He seemed completely flabbergasted that I'd want him to "ruin" it. I had to repeatedly confirm that I really, really wanted him to draw on it. He was so shy about it. After I talked him into signing it, he spent 10 minutes drawing one of his famous ducks on my back. It tickled like hell. I still wear the t-shirt.

What a guy. I miss him.

I've heard the cult worship of PG trotted out here before and while I'm sure not everybody here is entirely objective I tend to see that in the light of those that are hopeful to get in to YC by being defensive of PG even though he's more than capable of defending himself. So I don't buy that.

And I'm also pretty sure that PG is more than capable of puncturing right through such nonsense and that anybody that thinks they can get in to his good book that way is going to find it either neutral or maybe even negative.

And it's not as though someone here will name a day for PG if he decides to stop being an investor, or shuts down HN, and I'd be surprised if someone did.

And PG is as much or more a mentor to a large number of people and in a more general way than this _why character, no matter how nice he may have been.

I detect a parallel to the kind of grieving that goes on when someone passes away, but in this case that grieving is misplaced. Nobody died. Some guy did a bunch of stuff, decided that he didn't like the amount and kind of attention that he received and took his toys back home, which was entirely within his rights to do.

Judging by the kind of comments here _why's followers appear to be mostly in the third stage at this point, though there are still a few of them that are still in the anger phase.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model

Now go and do your own stuff, amaze us all and try to show the world how to deal with that attention, both negative and positive in a better way than _why did.

I'm sure there is room for that.

I'm already amazing and showing the world blah blah blah. So what?

I'm not allowed to feel sentimental for somebody you judge as not strong enough to "live" (persona-wise)? Best remove the plank from your own eye, etc.

I think you're misunderstanding me, email in your inbox.

> I don't know what would be the appropriate way to worship such a person, maybe a little altar or something?

Whats with the snarky condescending remark?

Why does someone needs to be either dead or have world shattering contribution to humanity for others to appreciate their contribution or even existence?

I didn't even know this guy until recently, but I just went through some of his writing and (to me) it showed a person with creativity who put a lot of effort in his work and some people really appreciates that. And this small group of people who liked his work wants to put aside one day to celebrate his contribution. So they had an option between selecting a random day or a day that this person stopped his online persona.

Let them celebrate, you don't have to be a dick about it.

> Whats with the snarky condescending remark?

It's only snarky and condescending because you pull it out of context.

> Why does someone needs to be either dead or have world shattering contribution to humanity for others to appreciate their contribution or even existence?

There are 365 days in a year, and this particular person has at least in my opinion clearly indicated that he no longer wants to be part of the whole thing and would like it all to stop.

Continuing the _why saga appears to be in direct opposition of what the prime entity in this whole thing wants, so how could that be celebrating it?

> A blog entry on how he inspired you, how he changed your views on programming and life?

What is some "blog entry" compared to actually writing some code?

Edit: to a hacker, that is. You all business types around I dunno about.

A way to pass the torch to those that can't program yet.

I wonder if this kind of ... "homage" is what made him vanish.

I don't think he ever counted on the amount and kind of following that he collected, never mind the stalkers.

http://mwhenry.com/blog/tag/_why/

You can't compare Martin Luther King day and whyday -- whyday is clearly meant to be a more localised celebration (local to ruby community, or programming community).

And you don't get the day off either.

It mentions that Hackety Hack need contributions, they're still actively developing here:

http://hacketyhack.heroku.com/

Thanks nick. That link is actually broken for some reason at the moment, I'm upgrading the site.

Also, please update your links everyone, I have http://hackety-hack.com now.

I think this sort of hero worship is something _why would not advocate.

http://twitter.com/raganwald/status/21568690272

Generally, we celebrate people on their birthday, rather than the day they left us.

What day should we pick as his birthday? Since we're celebrating his persona rather than his actual person, what should this be? The day he launched his first ruby project? The day he published his first post on the redhanded blog? The day that _why's poignant guide to ruby was first published?

You should pick the day that _why would pick, of course.

February the 32nd?

Actually, in the Jewish faith, when celebrating the life of someone who died (via candles etc), it's done on the day of their death.

Among Catholics as well: Saint's days are on the anniversary of their death, not birth.

Guy came along, a bit unconventional and smarter than the average. Wrote and made available some very good software for its time. Inspired a following, of people who had no business trying to be whimsical or clever. Guy went away. Weeping sadness, betrayal!

Making a day to celebrate some ideas _why made popular isn't such a bad thing.

put away your best practices today!

Has it really been a year?

I didn't know much about _why until after he left. I only experienced his works later, had a look under the hood of Potion and was inspired by his passions.

In this spirit I'll take the rest of the day of and go hacking on my scanner/copier web-front-end so my family can do everything by themselves while I'm away.

Has it really been a year?

Has it only been a year?

I thought the guy made it clear that he didn't want to be _why anymore, or didn't want _why to be a "thing" anymore.

Do you really think _why would want you to celebrate Whyday? Let it go already.

I miss _why, I use shoes, it's the only desktop framework that I like. ;^;

We miss you _why

If you didn't notice, we released Shoes 3 today: http://shoes.heroku.com/

I'm not a Rubyist but there is something magically about _why. He should be an inspiration to the advocates of all programming and we should try to emulate some of the whimsy and fun he brought to the craft.

Programming will be a lot better with a little more of _why-like magic in it.

but... why?

Creepy. A break up is a break up. Besides, he's too busy shooting sequels to High Fidelity and School of Rock.

I believe pretty popular relationship advice on reddit is that if you catch your SO cheating on you then you should pack up and leave without saying a thing. Apparently it really gets to the other person as they don't really know why they left.

I wonder _why I wonder

I wonder _why I wonder _why

I wonder _why I wonder!

... with apologies to Richard Feynman, another jester.

Yeah, no thanks. Programmers already ignore best practices and already have too much fun, look at the lack of good documentation for a lot of projects and look at the crappiness of most apps or the piles of bugs they contain. There are very few programmers who act professionally, I don't know why you would want to celebrate that fact.

"Best Practices" are anything but--becoming dogmatic about programming is a Bad Thing(tm).

Otherwise, the projects that WhyDay is encouraging are meant to be creative. Without creativity, we stagnate. No one is suggesting that a 4kb implementation of X become part of standard libraries. However, there could be endlessly useful things learned from such exercises even if its just a creative outlet for many programmers.

Do you think the "crappiness of most apps" is because those apps were just too well-loved by their creators or because the people behind the app didn't care enough to do it properly (or even learn how to)?

Turning programming into mindless drudgery where you just go down a checklist of best practices is the reason so many programs are crap. The apps by passionate solo developers who really pour themselves into their work tend to be better than the just-barely-passes-tests work you'll get out of a cog-in-the-machine enterprise coder who just wants to go home.

Huh. I always thought the HN Fun Police were mythical.

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