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Comment by ballenf | Hacker News Reader

He posed for a number of photographs and videos. He interacted with many people. He never expressed the desire to remain anonymous that you intuit. If someone wants to slip away quietly into the void, there are much better ways to do it than this path.

I'd argue it's honoring him and the honorable life he seems to have led to pursue this investigation. Not to mention there may be a number people who will get peace from the knowledge that a friend or family member of theirs has passed. That seems like the kind of thing that a kind, caring person would want.

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The article at least hints to the fact that MH was weary about digital evidence: "He asked Mostly Harmless if he could take a picture. Mostly Harmless hesitated but then agreed"

Are there better ways to slip into the void than going into the wilderness without even a phone?

He didn't go into any wilderness. He traveled one of the most popular hiking trails in the country. Went into stores. Stayed in campgrounds. Let himself be photographed a bunch of times. Why he hesitated that once, I don't know, but I seriously doubt anyone would have pressed him if he'd just declined.

Better ways? A boat out into the ocean. Hiking out West or in Alaska. Or South America. Going deep into an unpopular cave. Hiking in a desert.

There are many, many places more "wild" than the popular hiking trail in Florida where he passed. If he'd wanted to slip away quietly, he seems like he had the means and the intelligence to have figured out how to do that successfully.

Wouldn't the more wild places be better known to someone very familiar with the options? Someone starting out in denim jeans doesn't strike me as that type. Seems more like the sort to which any long distance trail would appear appropriately wild.

The "wanted poster" for lack of a better term has about 6-8 pictures of him from various people. He didn't seem overly shy.

He didn't say his name, though. At minimum it's a desire to stay pseudonymous, and I think it should be respected.

The idea that privacy can be violated like this solely because random Facebook users are interested in it and on the off-chance that family he hadn't interacted with in years might find some abstract comfort despite not being close at all is just incredibly bizarre.

> At minimum it's a desire to stay pseudonymous

At minimum, he was using a nickname.

You might think it's likely that he was keeping private his non-trail identity, but that is not the minimum explanation.

(FWIW, knowing about through-hiker culture, I don't think it's even the likely explanation, but that's just my opinion.)

I find it somewhat poetic that he was heading for the Keys. As this is exactly the person you meet down here, many people are known only by their given nickname and many times like this gentleman seems to be, have been successful and just want to get away from the world. You can sit in a bar next to a fishing bum and a billionaire and not know who is who. He is exactly the type of person the Key's attracts and it is ashame he did not reach his goal. Point being I understand the utilization of a given nickname, it is almost a second birth name of a new life, a new life that they themselves are seeking. Thus the name can sometimes become more important than their birth name.

I've thru-hiked and "no one" goes by their real names out there (for long). It's just not the way trail community works. There are many people I met and all we know name-wise about each other are our trail names.

I suspect those that didn't want to be on social media at all would have declined to be in the GoPro video for a longer discussion (as I likely would have, but I wouldn't have stopped a passing hiker doing a GoPro recording since that's more in the realm of a dashcam kind of thing). Fellow hikers tend to be respectful about such things.

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