Tell HN: Seriously We Get It | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: Seriously We Get It

56 pointsbherms15 comments

Hey guys, I understand how amazing of a person Steve Jobs was -- visionary, genius, marketing prodigy, etc... I will never discount the amount of influence he has had on every one of us (and the entire world for that matter). I personally was affected by a sadness I never expected when I heard the news.

HOWEVER, I find it ridiculous that literally every single story on the HN front page is about Steve dying. I have been one to frequently tell people to keep on topic and chill out in the past, but this just seems ridiculous. Steve has died. It is a sad time for everyone (especially people who ACTUALLY knew him, like his family). As much as I would like to honor his memory, I really disagree with having a separate story for every single person who has anything to say about him. I don't give a shit about 99% of what people have to say about his death and it really shouldn't be clogging up our news feed. Let's consolidate the Jobs posts and clear our feed of the 900 stories stating the EXACT SAME THING.

I can appreciate that "the masses" feel the need to mourn. I get that. What I don't get is the need to flood HN with stories.

The cynic in me says that people are saying ...

"OMG - look at the top story - someone got 2400 karma and it's still rising! I'd better jump on this bandwagon, let's find something, anything that mentions Steve Jobs and submit it - maybe I'll also get a shed-load of traffic!"

I'm pretty sure that most people aren't thinking that explicitly, but I'm also pretty sure that in some corner of some people's minds there's the thought that they too want to be seen as mourning Steve, and that they might get some traffic from it. Or at least some karma.

That saddens me.

I've lost four quite close friends and one colleague this year. They weren't world reknown like Jobs is/was, but they also touched lives. They also will be missed.

They also will be remembered, especially on days like this.

So take a moment not just to mourn Steve Jobs, but to remember others who affected your lives more intimately. Parents, grand-parents, teachers, friends. In some cases siblings. And children.

Most of you are under 30, but those of us who are 50 or more are starting to lose people we know quite well.

That really leaves a hole in your life.

That really hurts.

Get over yourself.

One of the biggest influencers of this industry has passed away, someone who's been a source of great inspiration for many, many of us.

Frankly, the inability of some of you to not understand our more human, primal faculties is surprising. Some of you have come right out of the gate to question whether his words should really be taken seriously with respects to chasing your dreams, or whether the contributions he's made to this world are anything but.

If you can't tolerate this for a few days, or find something else to do, then something is seriously wrong.

His death affected me, and I've never spoken a single word to the man. I find a lot of the things he's said keep popping up in my head when I'm down, feel lost and lacking purpose.

No, you know what, fuck that. That sort of emotion is wrong. You're right. Let me save this sort of reaction when a YC company gets blasted for a perceived act of injustice. I'm sure you'd have no problems with that.

An ounce of sympathy and empathy would do wonders for you.

STFU and get over yourself or go cry in a corner, we are not interested.

That corner for many is HN because of the community.

Wait another 15 hours, then submit every article on Erlang you can find.

Edit: I don't know if the downvotes were for perceived flippancy or what, so I shall be more explicit.

The official announcement that Steve Jobs had died was posted about 9 hours ago. 9 + 15 = 24; I am advocating giving people who wish to mourn, remember and reflect on Steve Jobs a day to do so. He was an exceptional figure: an exceptional reaction to his death is appropriate.

And then we can move on.

(Why Erlang? Because it's traditional (twice = traditional, albeit not exactly the same circumstances) and because I've not seen any articles about Erlang posted here recently.)

Today, where Reddit seems more sane than HN (one thread with ~8000 comments versus a frontpage with nothing but worship).

I would say that enduring a few days of Steve Jobs tributes on HN is small price to pay for the massive contribution that Steve made to this community, albeit indirectly.

Steve is, in many ways, the prototype for taking an idea from the garage to boundless success. Many HN readers aspire to live a life like Steve's, so it's no wonder they are affected by his passing.

Not everyone likes Steve or Apple, but you have to respect their ability to convert "fringe" thinking into mainstream success. Those of us who remember first-hand the direction that personal technology was going in the 80's are somewhat helpless to show our appreciation for Steve doing much of the "dirty work" to right the ship for the benefit of "the rest of us". If we want to lay our virtual flowers at his grave in the form of dupe posts, I would only ask for a little patience from those who find it annoying. It's just really, really important to some of us – as hard as it might be to empathize.

Try up-voting the few other posts today and maybe normality will return a little faster.

No. Many of the Steve Jobs stories are actually not saying the same thing.

Steven influenced so many different industries that reading about all these different perspectives on one man is both humbling and awe-inspiring.

I am sorry you feel the way you do, but just give it a day or two. Give many others a chance to express the same sadness that affected you.

Let them.

People are voting for it.

Apples employees are voting for it, and payed "social media" managers.

I'm just disappointed that it's come to people posting these. It's really pathetic. HackerNews is run by people, and what the masses want will show up on the homepage, and this is what they want.

Let it be, wait a day, and get over yourself.

HN is just a site. Get over it.

It's like Slashdot on April Fool's

> (especially people who ACTUALLY knew him, like his family)

To me this, including the capitalization, is very telling. You don't seem to understand where we're coming from. It's quite common for people to mourn the deaths of famous people whom we've never met, and whom have affected us in some way.

You can certainly upvote interesting unrelated posts that you find. But this isn't just HN. Tech bloggers wrote fewer articles that are unrelated to Steve Jobs tonight than they normally would have.

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