[slazaro]

He was an active HN user and a writer, he had a very active blog for many years, and he and his wife had been documenting their struggles during his disease; some of those articles were voted high here and had a lot of discussion around them. So in the microcosm of HN, it's relevant news.

RIP Jake.

[efilife]

so what was this guy known for? for a blog? for his illness?

[thom]

Yes. He was an academic who wrote about writing, authored two inconsequential novels, and was very open about his cancer. Many people here interacted with him or his work, but there’s no shame if you didn’t. A black bar on HN means people asked for it, it’s not a new entry on life’s high score table that needs to be rigorously justified.