Every comment I remember of him on HN threads were all hidden, downvoted and flagged. Now, to be perfectly clear, most of them were completely deranged and absolutely unrelated (usually a lot of stuff about god and bible etc etc) and he clearly was not sane of mind, but saying that he was treated "with respect and admiration" is a huge stretch.
People admired his work and acknowledged the existence of his project. People talked about it a lot and it was definitely interesting to see develop. However the person himself was definitely not welcome on HN (and I can't really fault that logic).
The net attitude of HN is one of admiration for Terry because he's more talented than most of us. I think the biggest thing that affected Terry on this site was being hell-banned.
I don't think that banning someone who repeatedly posts "completely deranged and absolutely unrelated" material is not treating them with respect. You don't have to look very far before he starts calling things CIA nigger brainwashing, and stuff like that.
This site was better with him on it. So what if he said a lot of crazy things? If you let a crazy guy offend you, I think that's a "you problem." He did not have the position or power to act on his prejudices; he wasn't hurting anybody in any real way. Posting here obviously meant something to him, since he kept coming back and creating new accounts. It was cruel to shut him out.
Propagation of harmful sentiments from anyone, but especially someone who (rightfully) inspires admiration will spread those further to people who are easily influenced or unable to separate a technical brilliance from someones capabilities in the rest of their life.
To be clear - Terry remains an inspiration to me, but I can understand the predicament of a moderator who needs to maintain a space.
People aware of Terry's condition might be willing to put up with his antics, but that's a minority. Everyone else just sees this crazy stuff being posted.
No, he was hellbanned. His comments were automatically marked dead no matter what he was saying. It was a huge mark of disrespect towards him, isolating him and belittling him like this. No doubt worsening his mental state. The moderators of HN have blood on their hands.
Blaming an internet moderator for driving someone to suicide by simply enforcing community standards is extremely callous. You're actually doing more damage with your moral judgement by trying to bring down someone else.
Now I read many of Terry's comments without ever turning on showdead. Even if he were hellbanned, it would've been a consequence of his actions regardless of the reasons behind them.
But maybe it's not even worth responding to somebody who creates a throwaway to make such statements.
His mental illness was not his fault. But it is also understandable that when someone uses the n-word, they will get downvoted and banned, even when it’s not their fault.
No, with response to the comment about the “downvote” mention -
(My “You’ve clearly missed the point”)
Mentioning downvotes on HN is incredibly stupid, & if you comb through my past comments, you can see me calling people out for it.
In this very specific & nuanced situation, though - I am using it to mock & make clear my utter contempt & hatred of those who did view Terry as a sad, funny meme, & were laughing all along the way while watching his downward spiral, which culminated in his suicide.
Many of those, still on here & reading this thread, will essentially want to mock my kindness towards Terry & his tormented life. & calling that out is my personal fuck you to them.
No comment regarding anything else in your response.
I think your conflating the treatment he received here with how he was treated on Reddit.