This isn’t Ed’s fault, nor is it yours. But TechCrunch is completely right to call us all out.
Aaron asked for our help and yet it’s difficult to find a single compassionate voice in that whole thread. Both Ed and yourself eloquently shut down anybody arguing on his behalf.
“There is virtually no chance Swartz is going to spend time in prison.”
That was you in the thread by the way. You also devolved the conversation into an argument involving Nazis at one point.
I think it’s definitely worth all of us thinking about how we could have responded differently. There’s no use in us defending our actions.
Did any of us drop him a tweet or email just to ask him how he was doing, or whether he was scared?
I am ashamed.
I hope that in the future I will be able to recognise when another human being needs my help, that I will not be swayed by popular voices, and that I will show honest care.
>But TechCrunch is completely right to call us all out
Agree with you.
If you look at Aaron's activity on HN[1], you will see that there is none from around 144 days i.e. 15 days before from after the help submission[2] was discussed. If you see earlier activity, he had been posting things with a gap of 10-20 days. So it can't be ruled out, that perhaps he felt let down by the community. Sad.
Aaron asked for our help and yet it’s difficult to find a single compassionate voice in that whole thread. Both Ed and yourself eloquently shut down anybody arguing on his behalf.
That was you in the thread by the way. You also devolved the conversation into an argument involving Nazis at one point.I think it’s definitely worth all of us thinking about how we could have responded differently. There’s no use in us defending our actions.
Did any of us drop him a tweet or email just to ask him how he was doing, or whether he was scared?
I am ashamed.
I hope that in the future I will be able to recognise when another human being needs my help, that I will not be swayed by popular voices, and that I will show honest care.