Why _why?

After just finishing a great article from Smashing Magazine about the life and times of _why the lucky stiff, I’ve decided to share a few of my ideas on the subject.

I’ll be honest, I was never really a _why fan.  It took me a long time after discovering ruby to actually sit and read the Poignant Guide to Ruby.  Not sure what the reason was for me fighting it, but I did.  It wasn’t until after I discovered Hackety Hack that I really started to appreciate _why.  Something about him taking the time to create a program that helps kids learn really struck with me.  Must be because I enjoy teaching beginners.  What can I say, I’m a mediocre programmer but I feel that I have what it takes to get people started.  Anyway, what was I saying?  Oh yeah, _why.  So I finally sat down and read most of the Poignant Guide and was amazed at how much fun it was.  It was mostly banter between a few cartoon characters but still found the time to teach people ruby.  Plus I finally realized where all the ‘chunky bacon’ references came from.

My take on _why’s demise:

I didn’t really follow what was happening when his disappearance occured, but later read a few articles on what is believed to have happened.  Okay, I get it… lets say that his real life persona was compromised.  I would mildly understand the reaction of completely stepping away.  To me it seems a little over the top to not only step away but to remove everything.  Of course some people reside on both sides.  Some say they get it, some say it’s shitty of him to do.  Hey, as programmers, we’re all a little eccentric… right?  Maybe that is what drove him to the extreme.

So that pretty much brings me to the point of this article.  We’ll probably never know, and really is it our business anyway?  Let me ask if there was another reason for the almost complete disappearance.  We all know that for the most part an artist is not truly appreciated until they pass and I would say that _why was, in many respects, an artist.  If you ask me… I think he went to the extreme to bring us all together.  By removing all assets of the _why persona he has forced the community to come together to rebuild his estate.  What if he felt there was no where else for that persona to go and decided to give us one last great act.  That would seem like quite and artistic thing to do.  How long has it been since this happened and we’re still talking about it?  People are still investing time and effort to continue the projects he didn’t leave behind.

Maybe it’s just me wanting to believe that this story is more fantastic in nature than it actually is but this is what I think and will continue with.