[herval]

so it would be better if he never left the stage but didn't produce half of the excellent material (both written and in code) that he did?

Thankfully I don't belong to 'communities' that consider things that way...

[ivanstojic]

Of course not.

However, you are equating his choice of ending his online presence with the quality and quantity of his work, or at least implying that they are related.

Can you offer any arguments to prove that point?