
The End of Ragequitting - Anon84
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/01/the-end-of-ragequitting.html
======
raganwald
If Jeff says that he equates suicide with rage quitting a game, I'm prepared
to believe that _he_ believes it. But I don't and I don't even think it's a
comparison that's useful.

Perhaps he means it sincerely, but my experience with someone close to me
committing suicide and the research I have done since then--including research
prompted by feedback from HN to posts I have written--is that it can be
dangerous to try to "reason" with a suicidal person.

"You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves
into" is something I often say about bigots, sexists, and so on, but it
applies to depressed people as well. You don't come back from the brink
because of life lessons, or essays on the internet, or the love of a small
child. Or this comment.

I won't even try to explain how being so depressed that you kill yourself is
nothing like deciding that you don't want to "play the Internets" any more.

The metaphor I use is that suicide is the end-game of a crippling disease that
attacks the brains ability to manage stress. I liken depression to AIDS of the
emotional immune system.

When we're healthy, we have ways of handling stress. We have good days and bad
days, but they fall within a certain manageable range because our body musters
compensation for our emotions. The depressed person can be triggered by
something bad and spiral into an extreme mood.

If we use my metaphor to explain why someone facing a lot of jail time would
commit suicide, the jail time is like pneumonia: Something serious but
beatable by a person with a healthy immune system and social support. But not
beatable by someone with a compromised immune system, and deadly to someone
whose immune system actually attacks himself in response to certain kinds of
stress.

Long ramble here, but we can't talk people out of AIDS or Cancer or even the
Common Cold. Good spirits and support have been proven to be very helpful, but
not as a substitute for proper treatment or for understanding that if you are
contemplating ending your own life, you are sick but what you have can be
treated PROVIDED YOU AND YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK TREAT DEPRESSION AS A SERIOUS
ILLNESS THAT CAN BE TREATED.

I am not telling Mr. Atwood to retract his remarks. But I am saying that I do
not support trying to talk someone out of suicide by comparing it to rage
quitting a game or walking away from the Internet.

I do support everything he is saying about the ridiculous injustice in the
plea bargain system.

~~~
thrdOriginal
I agree: his is not a very useful comparison. I think David Foster Wallace
gives the most accurate comparison I've read, and I always want to show it to
those lucky souls who have never had to deal with this type of depression:

 _The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself
doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that
life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems
suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain
unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will
eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about
people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great
height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing
speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of
falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s
flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the
slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror
of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling
‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to
have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way
beyond falling._

~~~
cllns
I had a blog post sitting in my drafts folder about Aaron Swartz and David
Foster Wallace. It was waiting to make it perfect, but I don't think it ever
will be. Thanks for this post, causing me to tidy it up and publish it.

Here it is, for those interested:

<http://swapcase.net/post/41144052777/aaronsw-and-dfw>

~~~
bryanzug
I picked Infinite Jest up again about a month ago and had been wading through
a lot of articles on DFW as a way of trying to understand his suicide. So that
was the context in which Aaron's death came to me. I also saw the connection
in Quinn's post and it had me wondering. Thanks for completing the post.

------
danso
At Aaron's memorial this past weekend, his partner, Taren, shed some light on
what he was going through in his final years: [http://mretc.net/~cris/swartz-
transcripts/taren-transcript.t...](http://mretc.net/~cris/swartz-
transcripts/taren-transcript.txt)

> _For a long time we didn't talk about the case very much. He wanted to
> protect me and he wanted to cordon it off from the rest of his life. He was
> worried that I would be subpoenaed, or that his other friends would be
> subpoenaed, and so he kept it all to himself. He kept all of the stress and
> the anger and the fear to himself._

> _In December there was a hearing that I went to with him -- the trial was
> delayed because another hearing at this hearing -- the decision was made to
> delay the trial until April. And afterwards I -- we came out of the
> courtroom and I tried to give him a hug, and he pushed me away. And he said,
> "Not in front of Steve Heymann. I don't want to show Steve Heymann that."_

The obvious, reflexive assessment of Aaron's situation is that he faced (or
believed he was facing) an unsurmountable sentence and challenge, and that
that fear was enough to cause him to commit suicide. But there's likely more
to it than that...it wasn't just the fear or the hopelessness, but the
isolation and other inconveniences that was a part of the struggle. Maybe
Aaron felt ready to face the consequences, as they existed on paper (the
charges, trial, and possible jail sentence) but the unexpected load of
paranoia and loneliness, as Taren describes it, was something that ended up
being insurmountable.

Of course, from the outside, it's easy to say, "Well, he should've realized he
really wasn't alone. And that others were willing to fight along with him."
But it's always easier to make that rational assessment from the outside.

~~~
tedunangst
Does anyone know why Taren is consistently referred to as "partner"? I would
have expected "girlfriend", which some sources do use, but I'm curious if
there's some reasoning or decision behind the choice of term.

~~~
gchpaco
A friend of mine does that with her boyfriend as a sort of solidarity thing
with same sex couples. Dunno if that's Aaron's reason, but that was what I
thought of.

~~~
shane-t
In some circles it's common to use the word in more formal or public settings
when you are together for a long time (long enough that most couples would be
married).

~~~
lostlogin
It seems to be what grown ups call their boy/girlfriends.

~~~
FireBeyond
This, for me. Ironically, my "partner" regularly wonders why I don't call her
my "girlfriend". Perhaps not coincidentally, she is quite a few years my
junior.

------
tptacek
Suicide is not a form of "ragequitting".

At some point in the next 50 years, society is going to learn that suicide
deaths are morally comparable to deaths from leukemia or heart disease.

We're going to be embarrassed by things we wrote in 2013 that look at suicide
from the vantage point of a "strategies" or personal choices.

It seems likely that things happened to Swartz that provoked his death. That's
in the nature of the illness he suffered: a vulnerability to provocations to
suicide. But those provocations are just as coercive as the genetic
abnormalities that allow environments to coerce living cells into cancer.
Swartz's death was nobody's choice; "nobody" includes Aaron Swartz.

~~~
mh9ndn
This scares me. How do you draw the line between someone having no choice to
kill themselves and other actions that some majority might not consider to be
choices?

Yes, death is final. I still feel it's my choice, other's disagree. What makes
their view more valid than mine?

(I don't necessarily believe in a free will, but if it exists it's hard to
tell who has with concern to what decisions.)

~~~
tptacek
The Buddhist monks who killed themselves to protest the South Vietnamese
government were probably not suffering from a mental illness. Most suicides
are not monks protesting repressive governments. There is very little evidence
to suggest that Swartz died in a deliberate act of protest, and much to
suggest that he died of a terrible illness.

~~~
mh9ndn
I'm sure Aaron was aware of that his suicide would bring a lot of attention to
his causes and this will have played a part in his, as I consider it,
decision. He was also aware of the practical problems, including depression,
he faced including that there is a chance of them getting worse and that he
could prevent that.

I'm not against curing depression and investing more resources into getting
better at it. My worry is that people with depression are portrayed as slaves
to disease, as opposed to healthy people who are free to make decisions based
on their interests.

That encourages limiting the choice ill people can make. Aaron is no longer
suffering from a mental illness. For him, ignoring others, it was a rational
decision that he benefitted from.

~~~
owenkahn
>I'm sure Aaron was aware of that his suicide would bring a lot of attention
to his causes and this will have played a part in his, as I consider it,
decision.

I'm not sure: <http://www.quinnnorton.com/said/?p=644>

>We used to have a fight about how much the internet would grieve if he died.
I was right.

------
radicalbyte
Did Jeff just admit to considering ending his life? Jeff, I'm glad that you
made the right decision. Don't give up. I've been in that place when I was
younger. However viable it may seen in a moment, giving up IS the wrong
decision.

Your podcasts (among others) got me through a lonely phase of my life
(migrating to a new country.. having few friends.. and still learning the
language). For that I'm grateful. I'm sure that you've had a similar positive
effect on far more strangers.

It's funny, but you tend to see these thoughts in the empathic, idealistic
types. I'm one of them. But you know what? There's nothing wrong with being
idealistic. It's a strength. It's positive. It's energetic. It _inspires_
people. Accept it. Embrace it. Know your weakness, and you can defend against
those who'll try and abuse it. And you will win.

Mandela didn't quit. Ghandi didn't quit. MLK didn't quit. More close to
reality: Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij haven't given up. Manning hasn't
given up.

If Aaron's case has taught us anything, it's that we need to stand behind
these people. If we believe that what they're doing is "right", then we need
to support them. Publicly. Privately. They need to know that they're not
standing alone. To quote Liverpool FC's theme song: "You'll Never Walk Alone"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youll_Never_Walk_Alone>.

------
yajoe
This is a delicate topic with a lot of factors. I don't know if I would call a
suicide due to depression 'ragequitting.'

Quitting, in general, is a healthy and normal action. It's why we all ended up
doing what we're doing today (we had to quit something to stop being the
proverbial male ballerina). Jeff himself leads the article with what he quit a
year ago, and I interpret his view of that decision positively.

It seems like Jeff believes that there are 'ok' ways to quit and 'not ok'
ways. Great. But, who is he to decide what is ok and not ok for others? I'm
certainly not equipped to say so, and I don't believe Jeff is either. He _is_
judging Aaron. When I was brought up, I was told that telling others what to
do in absolute terms was also a form of immaturity. It's all a matter of
perspective.

Aaron's death is a tragedy for many reasons and due to causes and
circumstances I will never understand. I can't pretend to proscribe any
decisions Aaron made. I appreciate Jeff using his articulate and otherwise
entertaining writing to help express what he is feeling.

It's open writing like this that helps our community grieve; I just don't
agree with Jeff.

~~~
zippy1981
Agreed, I can't judge Jeff. This seems to really hit close to home with him.
It's really brave of Jeff to admit he contemplated suicide.

I was taken aback at Jeff for being angry that Aaron's death has become an
effective martyrdom. Quite frankly, if anything can be salvaged from this
man's death, salvage it. If he is making the argument others will commit
suicide to become martyrs like Aaron, then I would consider his argument. Any
positive effect of Aarons suicide don't make his actions right, but I welcome
them just the same.

------
molbioguy
While I respect Jeff Atwood's comments, and I suspect he's leaning on the side
of being inspirational, I think equating suicide with "ragequitting" (directly
or indirectly) is unfair. The consequences are so different, it sort of
trivializes suicide.

 _But also, I must admit that I am a little disappointed in Aaron. I
understand that depression is a serious disease that can fell any person,
however strong. But he chose the path of the activist long ago. And the path
of the activist is to fight, for as long and as hard as it takes, to effect
change._

I never knew Aaron, but I know that while one can choose to be an activist,
one can't choose whether they have clinical depression. It is a serious
illness that is hard to fight. And by all accounts I've read, Aaron put up
quite a fight trying to deal with the extreme pressure he was put under. In
that light, I think Jeff's comment is harsh.

------
comrh
> I posted this as a comment on Coding Horror but it will probably get buried.
> I'm not sure if I'm missing his point but this is what I took away from the
> article.

I enjoyed this article, the romanticized idea of martyrdom and ragequitting in
terms of 'infocide' like the cases mentioned seem to fit well, but Aaron's
case was not a 'ragequit'. It was a response to a serious mental condition.

"But do not, under any circumstances, give anyone the satisfaction of seeing
you ragequit. They don't deserve it. Play other, better moves – and consider
your long game."

Depression and suicide is about hopelessness and constant pain. It isn't about
sticking it to anyone and depression by its very nature makes 'considering the
long game' impossible. For people plagued by it, there is no future, only the
black dog looking back at you.

There are many conversations coming out of Aaron's death, copyright,
information freedom, the overreach of the law, predator prosecutions but an
important one that is being overlooked, in my opinion, is mental health.
Programmers, activists, and in Aaron's case a person of extremely high
intelligence, all seem to be more susceptible to mental illness.

Maybe, even if nothing else comes out of Aaron's death. No changes to
copyright, no prosecutor's getting fired, no open data. Maybe at least we can
all take the feeling's of the people around us a little more seriously. Look a
little harder for the people that are hurting. And try to help them.

~~~
splicer
> It isn't about sticking it to anyone

I disagree. Whenever I have suicidal fantasies, the sense of hopelessness is
always accompanied by some twisted form of "that'll show them". "Them" is
usually either my employer or a girl I adore. I'm deeply ashamed that that's
the case, but it's the truth.

~~~
comrh
I can relate mate. There is so much self-shame in those thoughts but like with
all mental illness, we can't generalize. I'm sure some people have those
feelings, I know there have been times when my own episodes have even included
them so maybe I shouldn't have written it off so quickly.

------
jlujan
>Ragequitting is childish, a sign of immaturity.

I had never heard this term before. I agree with Jeff in general but there are
very legitimate reasons beyond immaturity. One is maturity in the sense of
picking your battles in life and knowing when your current activities are
incongruent with your principles. There are many situations when the best
course of action for everyone involved is to walk away. The result is not
always having given up forever, but an opportunity to step back, reflect and
reevaluate your approach. It is unfortunate that people do "rage quit" and
give up entirely. Resilience is not always a function of maturity.

~~~
ufo
Ragequitting is a videgame term. It is used to refer to when someone quits a
multiplayer game when they are losing.

------
mutagen
I'm uncomfortable with the comparison to ragequitting. However, a few points
resonated quite strongly with me.

 _we should have been outraged. I am gutted that I did not contribute to his
defense in any way, either financially or by writing about it here. I blindly
assumed he would prevail, as powerful activists on the side of fairness,
openness, and freedom are fortunate enough to often do in our country. I was
wrong._

I too was wrong about this. While I don't know how much my support would have
mattered, I didn't do much to support him. I can and will offer support to
others.

 _The idea that Aaron killing himself was a viable strategy, more than going
on to prevail in this matter and so many more in his lifetime, makes me
incredibly angry._

My thoughts on this are still developing and I can't articulate anything finer
than what Jeff wrote.

------
jacoblyles
Depression is a monster, and it is more common than we think in the startup
pressure-cooker. And nobody talks about it because you have to put up a facade
of invincibility to woo investors, employees, and the press.

I had one startup friend confide that he had sought professional help for the
stress he was under, and I thought he was very wise for doing so. Why, when I
was heading into a dark depression while building a previous startup did I not
seek help?

We need to support each other and destigmatize seeking help.

------
beatpanda
Here's a book written specifically for the mental health issues faced by
activists: <http://www.microcosmdistribution.com/catalog/books/3977/>

Atwood's suggestion that anybody who "chooses the path of the activist" should
be prepared to face the consequences does not even _begin_ to address the
challenges of being so engaged in such a thankless fight for so long, and then
having to bear the weight of these insane charges with almost no publicity for
your cause or public support.

Not to mention the weight of a wide swath of people not even understanding the
problem Aaron was trying to solve in the first place.

Activism, especially on nearly invisible issues like this one, and _most_
especially when you're on the opposite side of entrenched interests with
shitloads of cash, is _really hard work_. It's also hard work for the people
on the other side, except in exchange for their hard work they're earning
millions of dollars.

------
lifeisstillgood
I used to volunteer for the Samaritans (phone based suicide "hotline" in the
UK). I cannot pretend to know the physical causes / manifestations of
depression or suicide - but I do know that people I talked to, some whom I /
we could not save, were intelligent rational people who could discuss quite
normally and naturally ending their lives.

It is not quitting, in a rage or not, to take ones own life. It is rational,
even if most people on the planet cannot possibly agree or follow the
reasoning.

------
munchor
One of the most important lessons many programmers should learn is to "not
give up". One of the obvious reasons that comes to mind is not giving up on
releasing your product. However, there are many more things that one should
never give up on, like your Internet life or even your life. Sometimes it
happens, but I think those people only did it because they were in extremely
terrible situations.

Anyways, I am happy Jeff is not ragequitting. I'm not ragequitting either!

------
MartinCron
I know it's boilerplate, but it's jarring to have this section immediately
below an otherwise emotionally moving article:

 _[advertisement] Stack Overflow Careers matches the best developers (you!)
with the best employers. You can search our job listings or create a profile
and even let employers find you_

~~~
willvarfar
Talking of [ad] on Jeff's blog, I used to always be amused at the Atlassian
ads I think I recall routinely seeing.

------
rdl
Comparing suicide to quitting a game seems kind of offensively trivializing to
me; similar to comparing killing people in a video game to having to kill
people in war. I guess it's just a metaphor, but still.

(Also, sad to see Jeff Atwood was also contemplating suicide at one point. If
you factor in "quality of life years", suicide is an even bigger problem than
a lot of other health issues, since it disproportionately affects the young,
and affects other people.)

------
Kylekramer
May not be the most sympathetic piece, but it nails the thing that has been
nagging me: this reaction has been glorifying suicide. The suicide victim has
been remembered in glowing terms much greater than he ever received alive and
his "enemies" are having their heads called for by a large crowd. I don't know
if any of it is wrong objectively but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

------
jack-r-abbit
> _stripped of the most fundamental citizenship right, the ability to vote_

That is not entirely true. _In the US, every state except Maine and Vermont
prohibits felons from voting while in prison. Nine other states disenfranchise
felons for various lengths of time following the completion of their probation
or parole. Two states, Kentucky and Virginia, continue to impose a lifelong
denial of the right to vote to all citizens with a felony record._ [1]

However, it is entirely possible that he would never have been able to own a
firearm or serve on a jury ever again. Everyone can probably form their own
opinions on how much those matter to you.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_rights_due_to_felony_c...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_rights_due_to_felony_conviction)

------
falcolas
> Play other, better moves – and consider your long game.

And when your long game appears to be sentenced to prison until you're 60 or
being becoming a felon (with the reduced rights that are associated with that
label), what then?

When being a felon of computer related crimes would result in limiting your
access to your entire livelyhood (and your source of activism as well), what
then?

In the best case, you spend 6 months in prison, away from your family and
loved ones, are denied access to computers and the internet thereafter, you're
financially destroyed, and many employers will not hire you due to your felony
record... what would _your_ game plan be?

One way or the other, Aaron's life was destroyed. It sucks that he didn't
survive that destruction, but I'm not completely sure I would either.

------
promises
Really alarmed & surprised (I know I shouldn't be) to hear of Jeff Atwood's -
apparently recent - struggles with depression & suicidal thoughts... he
appears (to me, observing from afar, via podcasts, blogs) to have a robust,
upbeat personality... never would guessed he'd be susceptible to any kind of
unshakeable mental or emotional gloom. Scary that people can look like they
have it together in every respect, when they are secretly researching their
suicide. So glad Jeff was able to pull himself back from the brink.

------
mnicole
[This post may or may not be related to the issue at hand, but I think this is
something worth noting in a thread like this.]

Whether or not they directly play into the two particular cases mentioned, I
think we need to be aware of ourselves and how we can affect/worsen/underline
these decisions. Every week there are "Why I quit HN"/"Lessons I learned from
HN" and other posts on how someone felt after being thrown under the bus here,
particularly if they didn't submit it themselves (and sometimes consciously
so).

Despite Jeff's notion that Aaron would have prevailed indefinitely, HN threads
on the matter were much more bleak. It is normal to be skeptical of your own
success and possibly inundate yourself with thoughts of failure, and it is
another to see the community you are a part of dismiss you and your purpose as
well. Unfortunately we see that here a lot, especially considering some of
these projects are people's honest attempts at making a better person of
themselves or trying to find sources of income in a time where so many are
still hurting.

I don't know whether or not Aaron's pain would have been quelled in any way
had everyone rallied behind him. In my own experiences, the entire universe
could be behind you and it probably still wouldn't make much of a
difference/you'd still feel like a lone wolf. Still, there are people like
Eugene Sprague in the documentary The Bridge who walked the span of the Golden
Gate for over 90 minutes waiting for just one person to smile at him. No one
did, so he went through with it.

Just something to be cognizant of.

------
droithomme
There's two separate claims in Atwood's essay that I don't agree with.

First, a lot of social networking involvement is a waste of time and is
emotionally exhausting. A lot of times it can be highly addictive and
participation becomes dysfunctional. People quit communities all the time when
they recognize that things are just not working out. There is nothing wrong
with that and it's a good thing. When other members feel they have to defend
the community to the point of attacking others just for leaving, using
divisive and derogatory terms such as "ragequitting", then it is no longer a
community or social board, but is a cult. Cults defame members who leave
simply because they have left, which is perceived as an act of betrayal and
heresy. Communities do not.

Second, Aaron didn't quit anything. He picked a meaningful date to end his
life. Aaron was highly rational and carefully thought things through, it's
clear in his writings. He knew he could have handled six months or 7 years in
prison. This was an act of self-immolation, the ultimate protest of injustice.
It is a time honored and effective last resort message used only in extreme
situations of injustice, which is certainly the case of the judicial system in
the US which has in recent years descended into a police state like system
interested in power and control but not justice. Self-immolators almost never
leave suicide notes. There is no need to since it is obvious to all why they
have committed their protest. This is clear here, just looking around people
are upset and they know and understand exactly why he did this and it has to
do with the Federal Prosecutor, not a chemical imbalance in his brain. No one
in Tunisia was talking about chemical imbalances in Mohammed Bouazizi's brain,
it was obvious that his act was a protest as well.

Additionally, regarding depression, Aaron wrote he was glad he had insurance
to allow him to see someone, and his family has stated Aaron has never been
diagnosed with depression and was not depressed. Those claiming his action was
because of suicidal depression have only weak circumstantial support for their
case based on blog entries, and have to completely ignore all the
circumstances of what was going on. Blogging that you sometimes feel depressed
is not evidence of mental illness. Seeing a therapist is not evidence of
mental illness. Occasional depression itself is not evidence of mental
illness. It is a normal part of the human condition. Remote medical diagnosis
here by the general public is similar to the remote lawyering in the commonly
made but unproven claims that he did anything at all criminal other than
misdemeanor trespassing. An indictment is not a conviction. Violations of
terms of service do not rise to the level of criminality according to the Drew
appeal decision, so the whole basis of the case is very questionable.

------
keithpeter
" _And the path of the activist is to fight, for as long and as hard as it
takes, to effect change._ "

One has to choose the battles with care.

UK resident, not my issue, very sad as per Tim Berners-Lee's post. A light
lost (or was it a moth?)

------
elliptic
To anyone who is really interested in the subject, I recommend a book called
"Night Falls Fast." It's available as an e-book.

------
wissler
Calling it "rage quitting" when someone is no longer interested in playing a
game you want them to play is an intimidation tactic. It's really none of your
business to tell someone what they must play and when and how.

In more civilized times it was called "conceding defeat" not "rage quitting."

~~~
zem
likewise "taking your ball and going home" is often a way to shame people into
continuing to play on a field that favours you over them.

~~~
tedunangst
Depends on context. I sometimes think of the connotation as the person taking
the ball away is the one making unreasonable demands and using the threat of
spoiling the game for everyone to get their way.

------
vacri
I find it ironic that Atwood complains about martyrdom being effective, then
turns around in the next paragraph and complains that Swartz didn't fulfill
Atwood's idea of what 'activist' is.

~~~
bstrand
Actually, it was MLK's idea of what activism entails, specifically those who
use civil disobedience.

------
martinced
_"But do not, under any circumstances, give anyone the satisfaction of seeing
you ragequit. They don't deserve it. Play other, better moves – and consider
your long game."_

I agree. Do not ragequit SO. They're not worth it. Simply ignore them on SO
and never ever help them anymore by posting content there.

But do "rage" everywhere else you can: on Twitter, on /., on G+, on blogs.
Wherever you can. Certainly do not try to fight your case on meta: meta is the
problem, not the solution. Fight your case on another medium, where they
cannot silence you (nor reverse your "rage").

There are just too many issues with SO that have been unadressed.

I did "silentquit" a 7.7 K account (probably more now) gained by mostly
helping others. And now everywhere the topic comes out I point out that there
are seriously bad moderators issue on SO and that meta is mostly pointless.

The one thing that pissed me off were crazy mods that did "team up" on new
users and refuse to see their wrongdoings on meta. This made me sick and I
quit. "Silentquit" on SO. "Ragequit" on the big bad Internet.

And, no, I won't "post this meta" or "link to the discussion or it didn't
happen".

The very reason I'm posting this _here_ is because, you SO mods and
(co)-founders have no say in here. Here it's other people who are voting and
they're not all pom-pom girls fighting your cause.

I'm not in a hurry. Usenet is still there (slowly dying, but still here).
There are others resources like Quora and EE.

And others will listen to all these high-rep users who did ragequit (or
silentquit) SO and address their very real concerns and, one day, we'll have
something better than SO.

~~~
Shog9
Uh... Yeah. When I "silentquit" SO, I went and did stuff that made me happy.
Improved my baking skills. Took care of stuff around the house.

If you're so fed up that you can't stand to use it anymore, why wouldn't you
just... Go do something that made you happy? Rage or silent, if you're gonna
quit, quit.

Otherwise, you're just making yourself a slave to your own misery. That ain't
gonna end well.

------
maeon3
aaron's last posts on stackoverflow about the download scripts are just
chilling.

