That's your defense? "He didn't know!"? Try that in a court of law.

his point is pretty clear @tptacek - he's saying that just because edw519 didnt know the facts - doesnt make it okay for him to have been a caustic douche back then.

He made a judgement based on the information provided to him. It wasn't conveyed in a nice tone, sure, and that's unfortunate. I'd prefer if everyone was nice, but sometimes things just come out really, really nasty.

The usual consequence is to take your downvotes/criticisms and move on...not to become the center of some impromptu witch hunt.

I disagree - I think if anything this should be made an example of how we as a society are really quick to judge and attack someone based on minimal facts. In an age where depression is more common than a common cold - this sort of behaviour only perpetuates our psychological issues. Why do we need to be so judgemental to start with?

Please taste your own medicine.

Your comment is way more aggressive than the comments tptacek and edw519 made 119 days ago.

What if your comment gets upvoted and then tptacek or edw519 end up with suicide -- who would you be then?

calling someone a douche is significantly less aggressive than telling a person who's obviously PLEADING for help that he's wrong and should man up - based on very limited information.

Which we don't need, because a bunch of HN commentators handily volunteered to conduct a trial on the spot, right? Forming mobs is really what humans do best.

I wonder if that's what Aaron felt when he asked for help: that HN had formed a mob against him. That's certainly the impression I get from reading the original HN thread (that HN turned into a mob against Aaron), yet there's not a single comment directing HN's attention to the fact that they were behaving like a mob.