actually the content is there, it's just showing as white on white - when I select with the mouse I can see things - but my guess is that its still not displaying correctly

> the intended audience was the people who showed support on the previous Show HN thread

Your previous Show HN had 113 comments. That's a nice accomplishment but even if 100% of those commenters paid $25/month you aren't going to get to the equivalent of $25/hour.

> there was significant interest in this project

Are you referring to the Show HN? Was there significant interest in paying?

You could also try BuyMeACoffee and LiberaPay, or even Patreon, or all of them.

If it turns out Linus did something terrible in the past, I wonder how many people would stop using Linux based on that alone. We are not the same. To some people it matters a great deal, to others it does not matter at all, and there are some people somewhere in the middle I suppose. To me it is more about pragmatism. I may have an opinion on the developer as a person, but that would not stop me from using the project. For example I do not like the author of Odin much, but I do like the programming language. When it comes to contributing to the project, however, that he (author of Odin) reviews, I am not so eager because I have seen him being somewhat condescending before, which I think is more relevant than his personal life.

That said, when it comes to funding, it is not so clear cut to me. I actually do not have an answer. Transparency?

It's hard to self-reflect well enough to answer that! but I think something like: (1) it's good to occasionally (but not often) have emotional and human elements show up here in ways that differ from what usually shows up here. (Those elements may be good or bad, btw), and (2) if I have to choose between HN punishing people for past crimes vs. HN giving someone a second (or third, or Nth) chance, then I have to choose the latter, even though I don't like either of those choices.

(1) is about not getting too stuck in any pattern and (2) is about not reinforcing a worse pattern.

I totally get that there's a spectrum of responses and that everyone has good reasons for feeling the way they do. I don't think one is right and another wrong. They're all right.

From a moderation point of view the questions are: where is the cost/benefit optimum for the community, and what is most in keeping with the intended spirit of the site?

I don't think punishing people for past crimes should be a primary function for HN. IMO the cost of that outweighs the benefit, and it isn't optimal for what we want here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...).

That's why I'm willing to make a rare out-of-band exception for a post like this. But not so often that it becomes a Thing.

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I'm aware that many people will not be happy even Hell really does exist and I go there for eternity. Many people have expressed this sentiment in the most gory terms. Those people will never be happy, and I think that's fair. I'll pray for them though that they can have a change of heart, so they can have a chance at happiness.

With regards to the law, yes. I have to pay $100 every year and tell the government all my information.

Society is not the government. Society has the opportunity to let me back in.

That is not a black and white situation, and I received only 10 days in jail because of the circumstances, despite the prosecutor asking for the full 365 days. The statues of Illinois do not permit any evidence prior to the day of the incidents to be presented. I could not provide the jury any evidence that my son was becoming a very real danger who I had to protect myself and my other children from for at least a month beforehand. I am not and have never been a violent person, so he didn't get that from me. I could not present to the jury that I had called 911 on him several times, that he threw sharp objects at me, that I did everything I could do disarm him with as least physical force. I did not know about crisis hotline and the police never told me about it or suggested it, they simply said I'd have to figure something out. All I could present to the jury was his own testimony, under oath, that he had in fact harmed me and caused me physical harm. I used as little force as necessary to restrain him from another episode of dangerous behavior. I'm not sure what I could or should have done differently. And anyone commenting this or that solution, I would just say, I agree violence is rarely the answer, but I'm not sure what you would have done differently either. He has since been arrested at least once for similar violent behavior, so I am vindicated at least somewhat, because he didn't learn that from me, and I tried everything I could to prevent and stop it for the month before my arrest, and I haven't seen him since the arrest 4 years ago. And I was never violent. He didn't learn it from me. In order to protect another person's reputation, I will not say where I think he learned it.

I don't know how long it takes each person to heal. But I know healing is possible.

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