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Searching for Mark Pilgrim
- jlbruno 15y agoMark Pilgrim seems to have disappeared from the Internet. Eric is searching for anyone who might know him personally to make sure he is ok.
- Volpe 15y ago> ... to make sure he is ok. Sure people aren't just being nosy? If something happened to him, it is highly unlikely he'd remove his entire web presence. When someone removes their web presence isn't the implicit message that they don't want to be contacted?
- ubernostrum 15y agoFebruary 13: Ten years ago I would never have walked into something like this. A bear trap so poorly camouflaged a child would have seen it. But I didn't. I pried it open and got my leg out, but there was no way I could make it back. I was prepared to die out here. And to be honest, I felt I deserved it. A man gets too old for a job, he should know it, and stop. But then Buck found me. I don't know how. No one knew where I was going, but he found me and carried me back. Three days over terrain a mule couldn't navigate, laughing his ass off the entire way. Riding like that, completely helpless, slung over Buck's shoulder and staring down his back, I came to understand two things. One, at a certain point in life a man's hips spread and there's nothing you can do about it, and two, there's a very easy way to define friendship. A friend is someone who won't stop until he finds you and brings you home.
- shadowfiend 15y agoWow. Where is that from?
- imrehg 15y agoApparently from Due South http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108756/quotes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108756/quotes
- dmoney 15y agoIf you want to send that message, why not make it explicit?
- alexqgb 15y agoIf you dislike good stories, why don't you just say so?
- dmoney 15y agoWhat I'm saying is, if you really intend for people not to try to find you, leave a message saying not to try to find you. If that's the intention, the person removing all their stuff is not trying to tell a story, they're trying to remove themselves from one. If, however, you're trying to cause endless speculation about your motives, and for people to wonder whether you're dead or alive (and I do hope he's alive), I suppose this way works.
- alexqgb 15y agoSorry - I though you were responding to the nice story about the bear trap, and wondering why all that story stuff was necessary, and whether the conclusion wouldn't stand on its own.
- notatoad 15y agoi don't think anybody believes that he got hit by a car and all his internet presence suddenly went poof. there's more ways of not being OK than just physical injury.
- firebones 15y agoThat's too bad. I checked his Wikipedia page and noted that he requested that it be deleted several years ago, only to be denied. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mark_Pilgrim_(software_developer) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mark_Pilgrim_(software_dev... The talk page mentions his involvement in a computer tampering case nearly 20 years ago...if it is the same Mark Pilgrim (and the ages seem to match) then he seems to have redeemed himself with his subsequent work. I had no idea.
- phillmv 15y agoMark Pilgrim is an awesome dude. I remember stumbling upon http://web.archive.org/web/20110724223826/http://addictionis.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/20110724223826/http://addictionis... years and years and empathizing and feeling moved. I hope he's alright.
- scott_s 15y agoThat is moving. And now I'm worried.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- chimeracoder 15y agoI came across that a while ago as well and had no idea it was him (this was long before Dive Into Python, if I remember correctly). I always found this post of his to be very moving too: http://web.archive.org/web/20100624000256/http://diveintomark.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/20100624000256/http://diveintomar...
- vitomd 15y agoMaybe he was addicted to internet too. So he delete all his online presence.
- itsnotvalid 15y agoI think most of us here also are having the same issues.
- Estragon 15y agoThat seems very likely.
- kenneth_reitz 15y agoHis GitHub projects have been mirrored: https://github.com/diveintomark/ Dive Into Python 3: http://diveintopython3.ep.io/ http://diveintopython3.ep.io/ GitHub: https://github.com/diveintomark/diveintopython3 Dive Into HTML5: http://diveintohtml5.ep.io/ http://diveintohtml5.ep.io/ GitHub: https://github.com/diveintomark/diveintohtml5
- NnamdiJr 15y agoThanks for this. I've been going through the new "Dive Into Python" book online everyday for the past few weeks, so I got pretty worried when the page wasn't loading and I saw this thread. I hope Mark is alright, and he knows just how much his contributions are helping people like me.
- azulum 15y agomy hope is that he has retired to an ashram and hasn't been abducted by cyber-terrorists bent on killing f/oss and torturing him by deleting his accounts. or maybe he has evolved to the point that our invisible alien overlords saw fit to promote him. be well, mark, wherever you may be.
- biot 15y agoThis is the URL from one of the comments from the Ask HN thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3073836 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3073836 Not sure it needs another dedicated story.
- lclaude01 15y agohere is the .pdf of Dive into HTML5 http://www.jesusda.com/docs/ebooks/ebook_manual_en_dive-into-html5.pdf http://www.jesusda.com/docs/ebooks/ebook_manual_en_dive-into...
- phillmv 15y agoDoes anyone have an html copy of dive into html 5?
- jonathantneal 15y agohttp://diveintohtml5.info/ http://diveintohtml5.info/
- wyclif 15y agoSurely someone reading this thread works for GOOG, and can find out if he's still around.
- joeyh 15y agoThis is a really amusing comment if you read it w/o knowing where he worked.
- spullara 15y agoMaybe he is trying an experiment to see whether it is possible to remove yourself from the Internet. Would be an interesting experiment for Google to run.
- pitra 15y agoAtlas shrugged
- pingswept 15y agoAs I've commented elsewhere, there's a precedent for this. He disappeared from his blog for a while in 2004. Check the Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:diveintomark.org/archives/2004/10/18/exit http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:diveint...
- ceejayoz 15y agohttps://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121430050930298880 https://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121430050930298880 "Pass along - several people have called Mark Pilgrim's local PD for a welfare check, and they've sent a car just to knock on the door. #hope"
- dalton 15y agohttps://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121436177298493440 https://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121436177298493440 "Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring."
- GavinB 15y agoGiven that a) Mark is known by his real name, employed by a major company, and presumably has numerous friends, coworkers, and acquaintances in meatspace b) none of his friends, coworkers, or acquaintances are stepping forward either with information or panicked questions is it safe to assume that our interest and attention at this time is unwanted?
- haberman 15y agoThe moral of the story is that if you are well-known on the Internet and want to disappear quietly, you need to leave a note saying "I'm fine, I just don't want this stuff here anymore. Please respect my privacy in doing so."
- joeyh 15y agoOr just add an archival tarball to your 410 page.
- jwpeddle 15y ago... and that's why you always leave a note!
- drivebyacct2 15y agoNot only that, but it's just slightly less obviously melodramatic.
- scorpion032 15y agoHTTP 411, I suggest.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- nutmeg 15y ago@textfiles Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring.
- haberman 15y agohttps://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121436177298493440 https://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121436177298493440 "Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring."
- chrismsnz 15y agoAnnoyed someone called the police when he vanished? What a schmuck...
- pgroves 15y agoHe deliberately deleted some files from websites he had admin access to. Not exactly the behavior of someone in need of help from the police.
- glhaynes 15y agoIt sure scared a lot of people into thinking that perhaps he was going to commit suicide (or already had), which is something that cops get called about and try to stop.
- mpyne 15y agoI'm actually kind of surprised about how many people are not aware of the suicide concern. But then, I worked for a couple of years at a large training site where suicide awareness was a Very Big Deal so perhaps I'm just suffering from transference. The symptoms displayed by Mark here are very similar to some kind of "classic" pre-suicidal actions (i.e. "putting his affairs in order") so I can definitely see why suicide would be a concern among his friends.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- sandyc 15y agovia @textfiles "Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring."
- varikin 15y agoThe firehose and feeds pages on diveintomark are still active. http://firehose.diveintomark.org/ http://firehose.diveintomark.org/ http://feeds.diveintomark.org/ http://feeds.diveintomark.org/
- unreal37 15y agoApparently it has been verified he is alive. http://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121436177298493440 http://twitter.com/#!/textfiles/status/121436177298493440 @textfiles (Jason Scott) Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring. @textfiles (Jason Scott) The communication was specifically verified, it was him, and that's that. That was the single hardest decision I've had to make this year.
- AndyKelley 15y agoI don't get why, noticing that all his accounts are disabled, you would worry about him being harmed. If he got hit by a truck and died, all his stuff would still be online.
- ghurlman 15y agoPeople can & do harm themselves.
- ceejayoz 15y agoThere are ways of dying that don't involve surprise demises.
- AndyKelley 15y agoOh, wow. I just sat back in my chair. I had not even considered that.
- wavephorm 15y agoCan't a dude just disappear in peace anymore?
- natch 15y agoIt's completely understandable that someone would ask the police to do a welfare check, given the circumstances (signs reasonably interpreted as indicators of possible impending suicide). I'm sure he understands that he brought this annoyance on himself, probably with a good reason that's none of our business. But, now that his welfare has been established... Let's give this Googler privacy and space. If only we could expect Google to do the same for all of us when we need it. How about it Google? Consider this a feature request: Google Cocoon, an on-request service that hides your personal information from search and perusal in special circumstances. Sounds like a can of worms, but interesting to think about.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- akent 15y agoThis is probably one of my favourite Mark Pilgrim posts: http://web.archive.org/web/20110514133252/http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/01/19/influences http://web.archive.org/web/20110514133252/http://diveintomar... "Do not misunderstand me. I don't think the personal web has become boring. I think I have become boring. I've spent too much time tracking statistics, living up to the meaningless ideals of others, and pontificating on matters of no importance. When I should have been writing about lighthouses."
- nestlequ1k 15y agoDeliberately taking down such a highly seo indexed site is an act of terrorism as far as I'm concerned.
- nestlequ1k 15y agoHaha, HN never appreciates irony
- getsat 15y agoIrony implies a reversal or an opposite. Your comment was stupid, not ironic.
- nestlequ1k 15y agoYup, that's true. I welcome a verbal debate.