

_Why Documentary at Rubyconf 2012, Denver - sp4rki
http://www.akitaonrails.com/2012/09/03/why-documentary-at-rubyconf-2012-denver

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johnnyg
I saw this documentary at LSRC in Austin.

It covers _why's body of work, interviews people about their thoughts on
_why's impact and...sorry if I phrase this wrong, attempts to draw parallels
between the stories _why tells in his guide to the series of events that ended
in him leaving the community. It doesn't answer the question, but it does go
looking for a more full understanding of...well, why.

The guy who made it, when he announced it to the conference and when they
screened it, seemed to take it very seriously. I felt it took pains to explore
the work and to not invade the privacy of the withdrawn man. As I watched it,
I thought it was targeted at people like me who are newcomers. They wanted me
to know about this guy who passed through and what he meant to them. It felt
oddly like a family gathering talking about a recently passed grandmother.

I got no vibe that this was a major network style drive by or that he was
trying to ride the coat tails of a guy who has expressed his desire to be left
alone. There was a respect under the whole thing and a labor of love - of the
work and the community.

When it was done, I felt like "this is a good place, to be around people who
make this and do this". It was a sad send off of a good friend.

I've never met _why. I have learned a lot from him. I think that's the point.

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cbs
A documentary about the guy that just wanted to fade into the sunset.
Interesting.

That's fine and all, but is the Ruby community still pretending to respect
this guy? If so, why are they making a big public video tribute to a guy that
not only chose to disappear, but took all his work down with him too?

~~~
bct
I'm supposed to dislike an incredibly prolific and inspiring guy because he
took some stuff offline?

~~~
cbs
No, I just think its an odd contradiction to respect that guy, and
simultaneously make a video publicizing the dude.

He disappeared himself, and I thought that particular community was good with
leaving well enough alone. Especially in light of the reaction I've seen them
take when other people have dragged _why back into the limelight after he
left.

Seems strange. Just a thought.

~~~
sp4rki
I would have thought the main point was the email not the documentary which is
why I gave it a title referring to the email, not the documentary... C'est la
vie.

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peteretep
The idolisation of _why is just plain weird.

~~~
toomuchcoffee
It's always that way, with creative types. The more they try to just fade back
into the woodwork... the more intently people try to grab a little piece of
them.

Till pretty soon, even more so than for their considerable accomplishments,
they become famous for... not wanting to be famous:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman>

~~~
ryanmolden
I personally love Perelman's story. I think many (most) people have a _very_
difficult time understanding motivations that differ from their own. People
are amazed Perelman turned down a Fields medal _and_ a Millennium Prize, they
can't fathom any _sane_ person doing that.

Similarly, people can't fathom why _why decided to do what he did.

I think people are inherently uncomfortable with people who live in a way that
appears to contradict or call into question the very goals that the
uncomfortable people are themselves pursuing with such abandon.

Perelman turned down a sought after prize (two of them) and _why ducked out
from a kind of localized fame/recognition that a lot of developers crave. It
calls into question the value of these kinds of rewards/goals, and not
everyone is comfortable with those thoughts.

~~~
chc
I guess it might be that for some people, but I think a lot of people's
feelings about Why are rather different. The thing about Why is that he was
_insanely helpful_ and produced a lot of cool stuff. His focus at the time was
a project intended to help kids learn to program. So when Why suddenly tore
everything down and disappeared, it seemed really incongruous with the way
he'd acted up to that point, and people were left wondering … why? It's not
that he turned down fame (honestly, he always rejected fame, so big surprise
there), but that this incredibly nice and helpful guy acted so violently
toward the projects he'd created to make the world a better place. People want
to know why, and so they want to know Why.

~~~
ryanmolden
True, though I think most people attribute his disappearance to the outing of
his real identity [1]. As to why he was so insistent on remaining anonymous,
well we could only speculate, but perhaps he just felt a powerful desire to
'control his fate/life', and the forced outing of his true identity, against
his wishes, simply showed he was no longer able to do that. Perhaps he felt
the community was moving away from what he wanted to see and he no longer
wanted to be involved. Speculation abounds :)

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3707960>

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logn
That email is golden. I wish I could write like that. Reminds me of Pulp
Fiction where the characters say all of these interesting things which have
almost no relevance to the plot... "and scalp rashes are very, very bad" lol

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bradly
Here is a link to the trailer: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LtM830ocE>

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mgkimsal
IIRC, _why had some PHP code and writing before he got in to Ruby, but I can't
find any of it any more. Anyone have links to it?

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rhengles
I love the David Thorne-style of his writing.

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89a
This headline made me think he might be back for a second :(

