[21231651]

It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police.

Come on. If I could, I would downvote you to hell. Seriously? You think nobody has a right to delete stuff they put there? They do not have the choice to lose interest in one thing and considering that maintaining it is a liability "take care of it" the old fashioned way? How can you be annoyed that a guy is annoyed that people sent a police car in front of his house. That is just the most ridiculous thing I heard since this morning.

[jerrya]

Mark has every right to disappear, I said so. And Mark has every right to delete all of his stuff. Sure.

And Mark has every right to delete all of his stuff, stuff that has been widely linked to, stuff heralded as brilliant, and he has the right to delete all of his accounts, but what he has no right to do when he does that and leaves no explanation, is to be annoyed that people wonder what happened to him?

This is an age passed the kids' faces on milk boxes.

We have google that puts up a infobox for suicide prevention if you search for suicide.

We have amber alerts. We have diggs/reddits/farks starting searches for missing people.

We have had several famous net suicides including one in January 2011, where a woman posted her suicide intention, people read it, no one took her seriously, and she went through with it. Needless to say all of her Facebook friends were heavily criticized in the following days.

We have a zillion different ways to connect in an age that stresses how wonderful the socially connected internet is, and Mark goes off and deletes all of his stuff and his accounts with no explanation whatsoever,

And he's annoyed that people notice and take action?

If he wants to delete his stuff, fine. Leave a nice page up saying he is fine but for reason X he is taking down his material for awhile. Wish everyone well, and thank them for their concern. And he's clearly smart enough to understand that.

[21231651]

Why would he explain it to anybody, I didn't know him or his work, but by god if he wants to disappear he disappears. Also he posted no suicidal tendencies as far as I gather, he posted nothing stating he is suicidal or even sad. Maybe just bored, but definitely not sad. Why would he explain his actions to everyone. Who are you to demand an explanation? Did you contribute to his work in any way? Do you hold stake or shares in his work? Did you invest in him or his work? You didn't. One can say that he was a public figure and public made him. Big deal! Did he practically rallied to become famous? No. Did he have ad campaigns? No. Did he actively marketed his work? No. He just posted his good work and was happy that people used it in whatever way. But then he gets bored and says "I am out". Giving up a hobby should not result in a immediate police welfare call.

What did people notice? That his public side is gone? So they immediately assumed that he is dead? That looks like a leap of faith. There were other ways to reach him than police. They could have found out who knew him and told those people to make contact. Police calls are drastic actions and an embarrassment.

[mbrubeck]

Some of the people who contacted the police, like Jason Scott, did know Mark Pilgrim. And were probably concerned that a drastic and dramatic action with no explanation was a prelude to something like a suicide attempt. Even if it was just a small chance, I can see why they wouldn't want to risk inaction.

[21231651]

This is seriously pissing me off now. People downvote and never explain why. Did any of my statements ring as aggressive? Am I wrong in my assumptions? Or is it that people cannot stand someone who uses numbers as an account name.

[reinhardt]

FWIW I upvoted all your downvoted comments. The sense of entitlement and voyeurism in some other comments is repulsive.

[derleth]

> Did any of my statements ring as aggressive?

Yes. You come off as someone trying to be insulting.