
Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock - Tsiolkovsky
https://bits.debian.org/2015/12/mourning-ian-murdock.html
======
greenyoda
Ongoing discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10813524](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10813524)

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murricaFsckYeah
Some archived tweets here, last link for some context:

[https://archive.is/9HF4c](https://archive.is/9HF4c)

[https://archive.is/DcVrY](https://archive.is/DcVrY)

[https://web.archive.org/web/20151230193102/https://twitter.c...](https://web.archive.org/web/20151230193102/https://twitter.com/jackstormwriter)

~~~
hitekker
Prior to his death, Ian was briefly harassed by this character here:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXguqJGWMAEYM0B.jpg:large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXguqJGWMAEYM0B.jpg:large)

@jackstormwriter has since deleted those tweets and disabled his account. He
also deleted jackstormwriter.wordpress.com.

I saved a copy of his about page for those interested here:
[http://www.filedropper.com/archive_77](http://www.filedropper.com/archive_77)

~~~
jessaustin
Twitter is so awful. b^(

[there may be something wrong with your filedropper link]

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BuckRogers
Sad to hear this.

I wish that someone who felt so desperate would not be in a manic state, and
use their considerable funds (if he made 1.4 million last year alone) in a
campaign against police brutality. A life like a Christian monk from the
medieval era or a Buddhist of freedom. As far as his "career being over" as he
said, someone of his stature would have been gladly supported by generous
benefactors as he spent a life crusading against injustices even if he spent
every dime he had.

He likely had other demons going on, but this is reaction is something that
someone very justice minded, someone who would demand libre software like
Debian would do. That said, Debian is the most respected distro in the world.
Hearing Ubuntu mentioned so much next to Debian is like nails on a chalkboard
to me, but as an extension Mint has an Ubuntu base and straight Debian base
available, and even SteamOS is based off Debian. So almost everything
noteworthy, quite a legacy.

An injustice in the software that governs our lives is bad enough, but
injustices outside are hard to swallow. RIP Ian.

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BuckRogers
There are definitely some people who need to be looked into judging from his
last tweets. [http://pastebin.com/PLxw4buc](http://pastebin.com/PLxw4buc)

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lazyant
Speculation in reddit thread yesterday
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3ytbmi/in_memoriam_i...](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3ytbmi/in_memoriam_ian_murdock/)

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jlgaddis
He tweeted a couple days ago or so that he was going to kill himself. Very
sad. :(

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giis
Its really sad to see someone who contributed so much to world, life ended so
sudden like this.

Looking at twitter conversion. Most people speculating this tweet on suicide.
He also said "The rest of my life will be devoted to fighting against police
abuse".

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travjones
This is incredibly sad--RIP Ian. Some may consider his actions extreme, but if
you haven't been harassed, arrested, and deprived of your rights + freedom you
won't understand how shitty it feels.

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SimonDawlat
I can't fucking believe it. How does something like that happen?

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meeper16
I think a few notes to the Policy makers are in order right now.

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giis
Some more tweets:

jackstormwriter - wonder who owns this @ianmurdock account, 2007 no post.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20151230193102/https:/twitter.co...](https://web.archive.org/web/20151230193102/https:/twitter.com/jackstormwriter)

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ausjke
the pastebin is self-explaining and it seems true too, I'm sad, upset and
speechless.

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nice_byte
Jesus, I thought his account was hacked. But apparently it was for real...
poor guy

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sarciszewski
Very few people know the cause of death right now, but the speculation is
pretty convincing to me that it was suicide after allegedly being a victim of
police brutality and rape by police officer.

Of course, this isn't confirmed. But if it is, oh the anger.

Even if it isn't, this is a damned shame.

~~~
jarcane
Here's a pastebin of his last tweets:
[http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5](http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5)

~~~
noobermin
Is this really true? This is almost stranger than fiction. I mean, anyone can
post something on pastebin. Can anyone else vouch for the truth of this
(Having seen it on twitter).

~~~
merlincorey
Yes, it was on twitter yesterday.

* [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:le7oSCj...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:le7oSCjuRxgJ:https://twitter.com/imurdock+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nl)

* [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:umvcoAj...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:umvcoAjl8SIJ:https://twitter.com/imurdock/status/681598929205526528+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nl)

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marcusgarvey
From the Pastebin doc of his tweets:

>5:27pm: Maybe my suicide at this, you now, a successful business man, not a
NIGGER, will finally bring some attention to this very serious issue.

[http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5](http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5)

Nice intersectionalism there. /s

~~~
burnte
I believe the statement was meant to sound more like, "since Americans seem to
overlook police violence against black people, now that it has occurred to a
rich white male maybe someone will care."

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cubano
> 5:27pm: Maybe my suicide at this, you now, a successful business man, not a
> [edit], will finally bring some attention to this very serious issue.

Huh??

Ian was obviously fighting with some very serious demons.

My heart goes out to his loved ones who survive him, and I pray he finds peace
where he took himself.

From personal experience, this can be a very lonely and painful time of year.

~~~
eropple
Sounds pretty straightforward (if profoundly sad) to me. Police violence--in
the political sense as well as the physical, though I should caveat that
without further information I don't know what violence, if any, occurred here
--is not new, but predominantly happens to the underprivileged. Which is to
say, the use of the slur sounds like it's projecting upon the people who tend
to exert this violence very disproportionately upon people of African descent
(who, historically as well as today, have much less political power to wield
and to have wielded on their behalf).

~~~
cubano
I've quite unfortunately been arrested more time then I care to admit...its
_always_ a brutal, scary, and shocking event.

I've seen things that I shouldn't even describe as I feel like people would
just think I'm making the shit up.

Nothing in civil society even come close to what happens to you during the
first 6 hours in most US county jails.

From reading his tweets, it _sounds_ like he was simply going thru the typical
steps that all people who get arrested go thru. The process is as brutal as it
is uncaring.

I am heartbroken that they guy chose to end his life, but I can hardly believe
that this was the only issue he was battling when he chose that path.

I am not speculating BTW...I'm relating his actions to my own life and my own
feelings and thoughts related to being alone during this time of year.

[edits]

