The behavior I saw from mods and the HN community yesterday left a lot to be desired.
It left me questioning what qualifies as HN material and whether sometimes this group is sometimes stubborn just for the sake of it.
Kobe Bryant might not have been a technologist but he definitely played a huge role in a lot of developers' livelihood. Whether that was inspiration, motivation, drive or mental health... Kobe influenced a lot of people. It would be very arrogant to assume the HN community was free of his influence.
Every single Kobe post, no exception, was flagged or killed.
Some of us were not doing ok yesterday, and if we can't share our struggles with the rest of the community then why are we even here? I felt a lot of dictatorial tendencies yesterday on this platform and I personally really hated it.
Your heroes are different from mine. To pretend as if Kobe's death is of zero worth to this community is not only arrogant and selfish, but quite reflective of the pains minorities suffer in communities like these.
Today I showed up at work wearing my Mamba jersey in memoriam. Had I gone with the picture presented by HN yesterday, I would have thought I would have been all alone and would have had to explain my depression to a lot of other folks at work. Instead I was met with shared remorse and others also affected by the death. Most of the people at work were in similar mode and we shared our feelings and thoughts and comforted each other.
Yesterday, even if only for one day, I would have hoped HN would have been that support group.
Mamba mentality is real and has driven a number of us. May it live forever.
Rest in eternal peace Kobe!