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I just noticed that _why apparently deleted his twitter account. I then found that that wasn't all he deleted: http://twitter.com/_why http://twitter.com/_why
by Jeremysr 17y ago
I just noticed that _why apparently deleted his twitter account. I then found that that wasn't all he deleted:
http://twitter.com/_why http://twitter.com/_why
http://github.com/why http://github.com/why
http://whytheluckystiff.net/ http://whytheluckystiff.net/
http://poignantguide.net/ http://poignantguide.net/
http://hackety.org/ http://hackety.org/
http://shoooes.net/ http://shoooes.net/
All disappeared...
For those who don't know who I'm talking about: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff
- davelee 17y agoI wanted to try Potion, it might be too late now.
- burke 17y agohttp://github.com/whymirror/potion/tree http://github.com/whymirror/potion/tree
- loincloth 17y agoWhoa. Scary.
- defunkt 17y agohttp://hacketyhack.net/ http://hacketyhack.net/ also This is a sad day.
- pavelludiq 17y agohttp://tryruby.hobix.com/ http://tryruby.hobix.com/ too. THIS IS BAD!
- dylanz 17y agoIndeed. All languages need an online app like this!
- sah 17y agoThat's my mission with http://codepad.org/ http://codepad.org/
- benoitc2 17y agoMaybe you could try http://friendpaste.com http://friendpaste.com :)
- benatkin 17y agodoes this run code? take another look at codepad. It's not just a pastebin.
- benoitc2 17y agotake a look on friendpaste this isn't just a pastebin too. For code running. Yes I missed the point. Maybe because I don't see how it could works on most code if you can't import your own modules. I would be happy to participate to such project. Is sourcecode of codepad around ?
- benatkin 17y agoOK, it's a pastebin with embedding and revisions. How is that not "just a pastebin"? Oh, nevermind, it's a #nosql site. I withdraw my argument.
- benoitc2 17y agoOh please! realtime discussions, revsions & more. Maybe you should be more attentive rather than wanting to make your point. I already said, idea of executing code is interesting. but then something should be found to execute also custom modules. that's all what I said and I would be happy to play with this idea.
- benatkin 17y agoSorry. You assumed I was curious about PasteBins because I'm curious about sites that let you run code on them. Now, it turns out that I'm slightly curious about PasteBins. I think they're slightly more interesting than URL shorteners. They're not nearly as interesting to me as sites that let you run code on them, though. FriendPaste is neat, but it's not as daring as letting people run a bunch of different languages on your server like CodePad does. I imagine one reason it's not open source is that they're relying partly on security through obscurity. I would be if I were running such a site. BTW, I did check it out more in depth, and its python interpreter runs "import datetime" and "print datetime.datetime.now()" fine, but gives an error than an md5 library is missing when you try to run "import urllib2". So it supports some standard modules but not all.
- judofyr 17y agohttp://redhanded.hobix.com/ http://redhanded.hobix.com/ too :(
- fizx 17y agoGoogle cache is still live: http://74.125.155.132/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=cache:http://twitter.com/_why&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 http://74.125.155.132/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&... Edit: Also, twitter search results: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%40_why http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%40_why Notably: racheltostring: RT: @_why: programming is rather thankless. u see your works become replaced by superior ones in a year. unable to run at all in a few more. about 21 hours ago from TwitterFox
- tremendo 17y agoprogramming is rather thankless... Maybe he read http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771057 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771057 in Re: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771013 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=771013 ?
- pygy 17y agoHe's got humor, you know. That pun chain doesn't seem offensive to me. Thanks for putting up the link.
- basugasubaku 17y agoHe was (understandably) a bit sensitive about new works displacing his. He almost seemed to suspect some sort of conspiracy against Hpricot: "Clearly, the benchmarks you see on Ruby Inside are skewed to favor Nokogiri... Why not treat Hpricot fairly and use it properly in the benchmarks? It reeks of something." http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/181699 http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/181699
- petercooper 17y agoAs the editor of Ruby Inside, I can confirm we (or me, as author of the piece) were not involved in any conspiracy or malicious intent against Hpricot. Heck, Why even wrote the foreword for my book :) Further, the benchmarks we republished were not by us, but just a screenshot of benchmarks shared by the creator of Nokogiri.
- pnomolos 17y ago:( Sad indeed.
- sho 17y agoThat was pretty immature, to delete the repos as well. Sure, nuke your Twitter, who cares. But people might have been depending on the repos; it's a breach of trust IMO. Not impressed.
- arghnoname 17y agoYeah I think so too. My initial reaction was that this is his right, which technically I'm sure it is. It does call into question an unspoken rule of open source though, which is you can abandon your stuff if you want, but don't try to remove all traces, even if that is ultimately a futile act.
- jamesbritt 17y agoOTOH, I have to believe there are many people with copies of that code.
- noodle 17y agoassuming that this is a tantrum, yes. not impressed, only really detrimental. at least have the courtesy to leave your stuff as it is for the people who have and will benefit from it, instead of scrubbing it all clean. on the other hand, if this is a case of someone managing to crack/guess/etc his passwords and just wants to do some malicious damage, that would be too bad.
- donw 17y agoAgreed; it's really childish.
- patio11 17y agoThat was pretty immature, to delete the repos as well. They were git repos, right? I am new to git, but my understanding is you pretty much have to type git clone --i-dont-want-a-full-copy-of-the-repository-please-screw-me-over-if-the-master-vanishes to be in a position where you are "dependent" on the code (i.e. have looked at it, ever) and do not have a full copy of the entire project extending to the mists of prehistory. [Edit: apparently the actual command is git clone --depth (some number) I like my version better.]
- mtodd 17y agoHoly shit... _why is why I'm a Ruby developer to this day, especially the Poignant Guide. So very sad.
- tcoffeep 17y agoSame here :(
- mr_justin 17y agoWhy is it sad? Because he deleted his accounts? Or are you assuming something bad has happened to him and his accounts where deleted by somebody else? Why strikes me as the kind of person who would delete his online presence on a whim, just because it would be fun.
- Quarrelsome 17y agoIt is sad because the thought of no more _why is a sad thought. I'd love to see more of his books in the future, they were mind blowingly cool.
- mbrubeck 17y agoIt's sad because (if the sites don't come back) it'll be harder for other people to find and enjoy his work that I enjoyed. And it's sad to think that maybe he won't come back and publish more awesome stuff. (But when I think about it, I doubt that someone with _why's drive to create will be able to keep from sharing for very long.)
- masonbrowne 17y agoI was already digging into Ruby when I found out about _why... but he's definitely a big chunk of the reason I stuck with it for so long, AND served as a good vehicle for evangelizing Ruby to new people...
- TheProkrammer 17y agoTHE PURGES HAVE BEGUN! SAVE YOURSELVES! Seriously though, I hope he's /okay/....
- donw 17y agoGood point; hopefully he's not suicidal. Anybody know the guy personally?
- technomancy 17y agoNobody knows much about _why. He's always been a mystery.
- octover 17y agoDefinitely there are people that know _why. He has family and friends and such. He just is unique in his style and doesn't want to be famous for his art, he wants the art itself to be famous.
- jamesbritt 17y agoRip it up and start again.
- r1cky 17y agohacked?
- rneufeld 17y agoDomains are still up and registered to him... Strange indeed. Registrar..: gkg.net (http://register.gkg.net/) Domain Name: WHYTHELUCKYSTIFF.NET Created on..............: 03-JAN-2002 Expires on..............: 03-JAN-2014 Record last updated on..: 24-DEC-2008 Status..................: ACTIVE Registrar..: gkg.net (http://register.gkg.net/) Domain Name: HACKETYHACK.NET Created on..............: 25-FEB-2007 Expires on..............: 25-FEB-2010 Record last updated on..: 24-DEC-2008 Status..................: ACTIVE Registrar..: gkg.net (http://register.gkg.net/) Domain Name: POIGNANTGUIDE.NET Created on..............: 20-NOV-2003 Expires on..............: 20-NOV-2010 Record last updated on..: 24-DEC-2008 Status..................: ACTIVE
- andyleclair 17y agoMaybe he's planning for a big star-spangled blowout and is getting us ready for it? Kind of like if MJ had jumped out of his coffin at the Staples Center to start singing Thriller?
- timinman 17y agoActually this might happen, sometimes his sites go down before a new release, but what puzzles me is github.
- digitalhobbit 17y agoReally hope he's ok...
- antipax 17y agoThere's a phone number in his whois records for his domain names... though calling it would be a just a little creepy.
- mudge 17y agoI'll call him.
- Arubis 17y agoAs great as it is to have a community that cares about an individual, _why was very happy to stay anonymous, and a few comments here purport that his sudden disappearance resulted from someone penetrating that anonymity. If that's the case, calling him (assuming that number is accurate) could be counterproductive.
- Jem 17y agoBut the supposed outing happened over a month ago. I doubt he'd wait this long if that were the reason for his disappearance. I don't know the guy, and am not involved in the Ruby community. Nonetheless, that someone would call to make sure he's OK speaks volumes to me of his presence on the Internet.
- PieSquared 17y agoDo you mind saying what happened when you called?
- duairc 17y agoI just tried calling that number, I got an automated response from "<something... beginning with a?> Solutions" with a pretty generic "press 1 for sales", "press 2 for customer care"-type set of options. That was a bit disappointing, I really hope he's okay...
- tremendo 17y agoThat's really odd. Just yesterday he had picked up on Twitter again after a several-days/weeks hiatus.
- daveungerer 17y agoI managed to dig up a PDF copy of his Poignant Guide to Ruby over here: http://www.ember.co.nz/resources/whys-poignant-guide-to-ruby/ http://www.ember.co.nz/resources/whys-poignant-guide-to-ruby... Anyone who hasn't checked it out yet, do yourself a favour. And for the rest of us, who would like to remember this anonymous creator of cartoon foxes. Let's hope it's just a quarter life crisis and that he's back soon. Or that he finds something else that makes him happier than programming.
- geek4christ 17y agoSomeone has also created a github project to archive his work: http://github.com/binary42/why-archive/tree/master http://github.com/binary42/why-archive/tree/master It currently has a pdf of the guide.
- tcoffeep 17y agoI wish there was a way to get chapter 7 aside from going onto the Wayback machine. I really dislike travelling into the past. Uncomfortable seats.
- MrMatt 17y agoI don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to really miss the soundtrack that went along with the Guide. Does anyone have it?
- cpach 17y agohttp://web.archive.org/web/20071018035725/poignantguide.net/sdtrk/ http://web.archive.org/web/20071018035725/poignantguide.net/...
- carbon8 17y agoFWIW, I noticed that all of his sites were down for a period sunday night, too. I figured he was just doing something on the server and everything was back up the next day. I didn't check his github or twitter, though.
- random-passerby 17y agoCouldn't possibly be that he's fed up with Open Source and the ruby community...
- gcb 17y agohe did post some PHP projects lately....
- TheProkrammer 17y agoEven if he is, taking down ANY trace of your online presence is highly unusual.
- rcoder 17y ago_why has always been an unusual guy. He has always prized his pseudonymity online, so I'm honestly not entirely shocked to see that he has decided to simply pack it up and move on. It's a sad day for all of us, but I hope and trust that he has good reasons for this decision. His contributions to the world of Ruby and programming-as-art will not be soon forgotten.
- TheProkrammer 17y agoWell true, and he likely cultivated his anonymity for just such an occasion... His legend will only grow...
- mosburger 17y agoSomeone has already edited his Wikipedia page to mention his online disappearance.
- ejc 17y agoWhy the Lucky Stiff has become Why the [deprecated] Stiff. http://twitpic.com/ehkoy http://twitpic.com/ehkoy
- tylerhunt 17y agoJudging by this, it looks like his account was hacked: http://twitpic.com/ehm2h http://twitpic.com/ehm2h.
- zck 17y agoAssuming that was his account (it seems like he'd be more likely to register _why), this is consistent with him deleting his account, and someone pouncing on the now-free username -- note that this account was created today.
- thenduks 17y agoJust fyi, his GitHub account is/was 'why' and not '_why'. Wiki's are still there: http://wiki.github.com/why/shoes http://wiki.github.com/why/shoes, http://wiki.github.com/why/hpricot http://wiki.github.com/why/hpricot, etc.
- doki_pen 17y agoI think anyone could have created a new account with the name _why after he left.
- blaaaah 17y agoOkay folks, let's not overreact. Odds are all of his sites are running on the same host, so someone screwing around could take them all down once inside. And if his twitter account used the same password...
- apotheon 17y agoMaybe he used the same password at PerlMonks: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=2048 http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=2048
- timinman 17y ago_why got me back into programming and into ruby, first with "Try Ruby!" in the browser and later Hackety Hack. When I asked if I could use hackety to build a web app, he steered me toward rails. I've used tons of his library, especially hpricot. You're an important part of this community, _why. I hope you're not saying goodbye.
- timinman 17y ago_why got me back into programming and into ruby, first with "Try Ruby!" in the browser and later Hackety Hack. When I asked if I could use hackety to build a web app, he steered me toward rails. I've used tons of his library, especially hpricot. You're an important part of this community, _why. I hope you're not saying goodbye.
- dazmax 17y agoSomeone outed him here: http://whoiswhytheluckystiff.wordpress.com/ http://whoiswhytheluckystiff.wordpress.com/
- pol 17y agoWhat a mean-spirited thing to do to someone who just wanted to stay anonymous. It makes me sad and angry. If this is the reason _why decided to pick up and leave, I understand it. We have his code, it will live on. Perhaps he will return in another guise.
- imbaczek 17y agomean-spirited? he gave the internet a challenge and somebody took it up, that's all. oh, and it doesn't have to be his real name, too.
- astine 17y agoDid he literally put out a challenge or do you actually see a person's privacy as a game?
- moe 17y agoThe wikipedia page shows an image of him apparently giving a public speech. If his privacy was so precious to him I don't think he would do things like that. Hence I would say this was just a little game - and he lost.
- astine 17y agoIf his privacy was so precious to him I don't think he would do things like that. But you don't know, and neither do I. It looks like someone played this game, and we lost.
- watt 17y agoprivacy must be respected, and actually should be enforced by everybody, including you. meaning: even if you know him, you should pretend that he is anonymous person, disconnecting the _why persona from the real-life person. for example, if you know him, and you hire him, you still should ignore the on-line _why persona, because for privacy purposes, it is separate, anonymous entity, and you should not connect it to real person. that's what privacy should be.
- geek4christ 17y agoHis last message to us all: @_why: an ascending homage to fish bones. culminating in a delicate canopy of mouse furs. RIP, online presence of _why
- CraigBuchek 17y agoSo long, and thanks for all the fish....
- nevans 17y agoThat sounds a bit more morbid without the context leading up to it: _why: nailing a small ornate gold shelf at arm’s height above the bed for my cat to sit on. i give you: norton’s perch. _why: i should probably have little teeny shelves all leading up to it. with their own miniature portraits or doll banisters or something. strathmeyer: @_why Do cat structures last longer than programming structures? _why: @strathmeyer hard to say, i guess if this feline staircase falls into disrepair, i’ll swap in a circular queue. _why: an ascending homage to fish bones. culminating in a delicate canopy of mouse furs. I will truly miss why's wonderful whimsy. :-(
- jcl 17y agoIt looks like someone is in the process of mirroring what they can find: http://github.com/whymirror http://github.com/whymirror
- wayneb 17y agoomg, who fucking cares. Ruby sucks anyway.
- mloy 17y agoBeing actively anonymous is an open invitation for having your identity discovered and released. He knew it was coming. Deleting any trace of himself was planned, it was not done in heat of passion after being outed.
- TheRealPeteShaw 17y agoYou're all a bunch of suckers
- wrinklz 17y agoThank you. Before you bunch of women get too hysterical, you might want to take a look at this. http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/08/11 http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/08/11 I'll just assume _why is vacationing in Europe.
- jonknee 17y agoDo you normally delete all your stuff before going on vacation?
- h3h 17y agoJohn Resig has posted a eulogy: http://ejohn.org/blog/eulogy-to-_why/ http://ejohn.org/blog/eulogy-to-_why/
- joeycfan 17y agoHoly crap this is a disaster! This guy is one of lord high masters of the geek art crafts and sciences. Where ever you are Why, I hope you're all right..
- wrinklz 17y agoHe changed his name to _when and is working on perl 6.
- don_gery 17y agothis is clearly jack black. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Whytheluckystiff.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Whytheluc...
- khelll 17y agohttp://whoiswhytheluckystiff.wordpress.com/ http://whoiswhytheluckystiff.wordpress.com/
- brianto2010 17y agoIt seems that not every account was taken down... http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9c5on/where_is_why/c0c7gm4 http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9c5on/where_is_...
- mailboxtom 17y agoLet _why-gones be _why-gones
- crapfactory 17y agoyou RoR guys are the sad ones, its all 100% cult of personality. get real he's only one person, if your community can't survive and thrive w/out him, it should die
- banister 17y agofirst up _why was active in more than the RoR community (look at potion, shoes, unholy, etc). Secondly, the majority of comments have been directed towards the dramatic way in which he left and the fact he will be sorely missed.
- _oldhat 17y agoOld hat, but take a very careful look at p27 of Nobody Knows Shoes (pdf version) with the text: So flows hit the end and move down ... If that isn't Kylie ...