I saw this documentary at LSRC in Austin.<p>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.<p>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 I felt it took pains to explore the work and to not invade the privacy of the withdrawn man.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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>I've never met _why. I have learned a lot from him. I think that's the point.
A documentary about the guy that just wanted to fade into the sunset. Interesting.<p>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?
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