zlacker

>>joelg+(OP)
We just lost a giant.

Hard to imagine someone more black bar worthy for Hacker News, hope we have one up soon.

>>_pius+i4
I hope not. The black bar has become a meaningless exercise in political posturing.

Edit: allow me to clarify - just having to choose whether or not someone is "black bar worthy" is distasteful. Ian Murdock didn't get a black bar that I can recall, and I don't remember seeing one since then, even though other people relevant to the community have died. Are we to expect someone to change the color of the bar every time a death in the tech community occurs, and how to we judge relevance in that regard?

No, it's an arbitrary gesture that doesn't really honor anything or anyone. It just gives people something to argue about. Why did someone get a black bar and someone else didn't? Why was this person deserving of it, and not that person? It's best to just remove it altogether.

>>krapp+D4
I thought the black bar was done by the people who run the site, and "we" don't judge it at all.

In which case, it's a personal decision to honor someone they care about by placing a subtle notice on ther site, which happens to be popular. It's no different in spirit to the thousands of tribute blog posts being written as I type this.

I find it extremely distasteful to criticize how someone chooses to honor the dead. As long as they're not doing it by shooting guns into the air or hosting a destructive party next to your house or something like that, what do you care?

>>mikeas+9d
"We" certainly do judge, even if that judgement has no practical value. People do act as if it's up for debate. Whenever we decide one death is worthy of it and ignore others, or get into petty arguments if it doesn't appear fast enough, or for the right person. An expectation builds which, if not properly catered to, leads to insult and animosity. And given that it's Hacker News, sometimes suspicion and paranoia.

It certainly is within the site owners' right to do whatever they like, but for the community it's becoming a spectacle.

Although obviously, as the bar is up right now, my opinion on the matter isn't going to prevail.

>>krapp+4e
I'd say the solution here is not to end the black bars, but to end the petty disputes by being more civilized in the discussions. Perhaps that's too much to ask, but we should give it a shot.

>>mikeas+ne
Thank you.

>>dang+0o
Why?

>>Jupite+Dr
Because it very strongly reflects the guiding idea of what is best for HN given that 'petty disputes' are the opposite. They are destructive to a degree that is hard to imagine until you put a figure on it.

>>jacque+4w
Unfortunately to my eyes the comment that dang thanked looked like it was a rather passive aggressive put down. Especially in the context that the OP was not being petty but was raising an important point in a measured way.

EDIT Civility is important but it should not be confused for everyone having the same point of view on a topic. And censorship by "civility" causes people to not join discussions. When I come to HN I want a intelligent but lively discussion. However, some issues have reached such a consensus such that even well thought out opposing views put politely get heavily downvoted.

>>Jupite+Lx
On reflection, I think mikeash is correct. The civil thing to do on my part would have been to not bring the subject up, as there's a time and place for everything, and this thread was probably neither. I accidentally created exactly the sort of noise I wanted to avoid. It would be better to expect more of people.