Dennis Ritchies death was not “hardly mentioned” — there were sizeable obits even in the mainstream press and it goes without saying HN discussed his legacy too across multiple days and weeks:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3105526

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3106222

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3107244

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=dennis+ritchie

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/13/dennis-ri...

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/technology/dennis-ritchie...

https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2011-10-13 this link probably works better

Do you also remember something Ritchie did in 200x? Jobs was on stage introducing iPhone in 2007 and iPad 2010. If the last thing he did were the introduction of Mac in 2014 there would not be much talk anout him either.

Ah, so that's what makes a man great. Not their accomplishments and failures, but how aggressively they self promote.

You jest, but sadly yes.

Those who are mostly promoted by others tend to be remembered for reasons they might not prefer.

I said nothing about greatness. Just pointed out that being public makes someone more likely to be talked about after death.

That’s the difference between news and history.

Because Jobs was a more influential and captivating figure, in my opinion obviously.