[nkurz]

Apologies if this is the wrong time to ask, but there probably won't ever be a better one. I didn't know him, but often read his comments here. I frequently found them to be... frustrating. He seemed to have a particularly literalist bent, and would often seem to focus on small seemingly irrelevant inconsistencies rather the bigger argument. He usually wasn't wrong, but it made me wonder whether he was autistic, or otherwise out there on the Asperger's spectrum. I'd been meaning to ask him, but never found the right opportunity.

For those of you who knew him in real life, did this carry over? Or was I misreading him, as is so easy to do online. I don't ask this flippantly. I lean in the literalist direction myself, and often am unduly frustrated by the imperfections and inconsistencies of the world. Life's not easy if your mind demands a world that makes sense. It makes me wonder if this outlook was part of what pushed him over the edge. Thoughts?

[rootusrootus]

I will admit that when I put 2 and 2 together and realized who he was here (in my mind, for whatever reason, I've always read his username in my head as Chris Eaton, not Chris Seaton), I was conflicted. The image I built up from years of his commentary did not match the portrait painted today by people who knew him much better.

I think there's a lesson there. Comments are just that, comments. Try not to read too much into them, they are severely lacking in the necessary context. Assume good faith in the absence of something very explicit that suggests otherwise.

[beachy]

> Assume good faith

One of the HN rules, and one that I think would vastly improve on line discourse if others followed it. I have to go on FB from time to time (since that's where a community I follow is based) and it's horrifying how quickly and often things spiral out of control, when the protagonists are probably pretty OK people IRL.

Even if someone is being a jerk, responding in this way can often make them pull their head in.

I wish I was better at this.

[coletonodonnell]

Seems that the testimonials from others on here show that he was nothing but lovely, I don't think that making observations like that on a post like this is terribly appropriate though.

[justin66]

This:

> Seems that the testimonials from others on here show that he was nothing but lovely

is because people behave like this:

> I don't think that making observations like that on a post like this is terribly appropriate though.

[system2]

It is probably cultural. In some it is forbidden to talk behind people who died other than positively. In some, possible to say things like this. I guess.

[sitkack]

I don't think Chris would have minded.