What shit do people toss his way? Is it because of his personality? Because I tend to find him a very amusing writer, and I think that most of what he's written tends to be pretty spot-on.
I've always wondered this too. Sure, he's vitriolic but he says right on his blog that it's just an act. He's also contributed a lot to open source so that alone puts him in a totally different class than other writers with a similar style but nothing in the way of added value.
The fact that he took some much of his time and effort to do this shows that he's someone who cares about others.
I just wish he'd care for my eyes a little more and make his site a easier to read.
i've never met zed, but am always impressed with his honesty in everything i've read written by him. I don't think one can ever say that he doesn't actually believe what he claims.
Don't you find him to be a bit narcissistic? In any case, I usually read his writing, but I've found his tendency towards autobiography and self-promotion alarming at times.
Probably. Bottom line is that we can't judge an individual based on something as trivial as a blog, but quite a few people seem to take blogs and such very seriously.
I think it has some clear implications for the general 'readership' as there are a lot of people (especially teenagers) who are probably pretty "close to the edge" just by the nature of this culture. It doesn't create mental illness but it certainly attracts it.
For the first in this series of posts there was a chance someone on here might know who the Matt guy was. After that I'm sure plenty of people wanted to hear how it ended.
"... Other than this is written by a programmer, does this story have any relevance to Hacker News? ..."
Yes I think so.
Firstly it shows Zed follows the "Be good" mantra. It's simple to follow, harder to practice but worth the effort.
"... I know many programmers are not religious, and I’m not really either, but many churches and houses of worship do good things for people. They feed the poor, take in the sick, and help people who need it most. When you need help, a church, synagogue, mosque, or temple will most likely help you ..."
Secondly we can practice our sharp analytical skills noting that just because there is a good family that happens to be religious, it does not logically follow that religion itself is good.
