dasein

[Job]

Really sad. This forum is kind of part of my life now and knowing you guys/gals by your handles equates to personally knowing you. dasein was one of the people who greatly and incessantly helped me after I moved to Debian. Huge loss to the forum and to the Linux community. May he rest in peace with the angels.

[ticojohn]

I would like to thank dasein for what he did for me. He frequently would give me "heck" for some of the things I did, but in the end he got me to search, read, and think. I appreciate all that even though it seemed at times that he enjoyed jumping on my case. But I understand now that it was a huge learning experience. Thank you dasein. Good journey to wherever you are headed.

[None1975]

I personally did not know him and I did not encounter him in the forum, but after reading the feedback, I got the impression that this person really was deserving of the Debian community. If the worst thing happened, let him rest in peace.

[llivv]

I still hope dasein has not met with an untimely fate and is on an exteneded subatical. I dislike partaking in rumors and dare I say here say.

best regards and privacy to all that have for one reason or another left this place and found brighter ways to live life.

[Lysander]

I dislike partaking in rumors and dare I say here say.

Neither rumours nor hearsay. This is a direct quote from dasein from an email to me back in November:

I'm old before my time and it's entirely reasonable to suspect that I'm on the last year or two of my life.

I know it's a little hard to visualise his situation since I haven't given any details away, but as I said, back in December his condition worsened severely. So it's more than likely that he has passed away, as much as I wish that weren't the case.

I struggled for a while with this thread: if I should make it, how I should word it etc. But I believe it's in the interests of the community since he was so well-liked and respected here.

[llivv]

I know the struggle you mention as I also stuggle with the words to use..
I wished I'd been a LOT less non chalant with my original post to this thread,
when my thorughts were actually closer to the my post just above.
Yet, the words did not come out the way I wanted them too back than.
I hope you will let the memories you save rest easy on your heart.

[Lysander]

Bumping this topic in memoriam.

This coming Saturday it will be exactly one year since I heard anything from dasein. His last email was sent on 29th December 2017. After this, he disappeared after a long history of ill health. As stated earlier, there is no absolute proof that he has passed away - and we will never have that - but all indications point to the fact that he has.

I am adding to this topic in the cause of keeping dasein's memory alive and with respect to the huge amount of assistance he gave to this community. After conversing with many other Linux community members over the last few months I am still of the opinion that his intellect was far in advance of the large majority of computer users one meets on the internet that he was one of the greatest minds that I have ever had the fortune to converse with. This is made all the more interesting since he commented that in recent years his brain was operating "at a fraction of its former capacity".

I was thinking of sharing some of his words here, but nothing came naturally. There is a wealth of his contributions already on this forum, so there is little need. His absence shows that one knowledgeable member is worth a hundred sub-par ones. I occasionally come to lurk here at FDN and I notice that the quality of advice here is not what it once was.

I hope you are all having a good Yuletide and that your computing projects are going educationally and satisfactorily.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I was thinking of sharing some of his words here

His last post on these boards was in his usual style:

Do you want a technically accurate answer? Or are you willing to settle for an answer someone just pulled out of their ass?

Awesome or what?

And I fondly remember the *many* times he criticised me for doing searches for strangers, and our Windows EULA disagreement (which I lost): lots of happy memories

EDIT: here's the EULA thread: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=123346

I think we should all ask ourselves when presented with a new thread: what would dasein do?

[Lysander]

His last post on these boards was in his usual style:

Do you want a technically accurate answer? Or are you willing to settle for an answer someone just pulled out of their ass?

Awesome or what?

That quote really shows his feelings towards what this forum had become. You omitted his final knife-twist in that comment: "I trust my point is obvious, even to you".

And I fondly remember the *many* times he criticised me for doing searches for strangers

This is something I do a lot these days. Maybe I should rethink that strategy.

I think we should all ask ourselves when presented with a new thread: what would dasein do?

Probably tell the user to spend a good hour searching and sort the problem out for themselves. It's what I do these days unless I'm totally stuck. The last words in his final email really sum up his mission in educating Linux users:

Well, no one can be an expert on everything, but yes, I firmly believe that developing one's own expertise is an inherently worthwhile thing, doubly so as regards "fundamentals."

[golinux]

Thank you for this thread Lysander. Despite the fact that I occasionally link to one of dasein's oeuvres here, he is not much at the forefront of my thoughts as he was a year ago. Yes, this forum is a shell of what it once was. Have you ever dropped by the Devuan forum? The quality is mostly very high and creative. That's what tinkerers do.

[xepan]

On a sidenote: Not everyone thinks good of him.
A typical answer was either a link to google or a manpage. Not that great, really. A monkey could do that.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

A typical answer was either a link to google or a manpage. Not that great, really. A monkey could do that.

Well, a link to LMGTFY would usually indicate that the poster should have searched first because the question being asked has already been answered *many* times before and repeating it here would be pointless.

And a man page link can be very useful, I do that myself from time to time.

I would suppose that the relative frequency of the boilerplate replies was directly related to the quality of the OP but I haven't conducted a formal study

[xepan]

can be, can not be, but it sure doesn't make the one who does look outstanding smart.
I was never that sure if he was running debian at all.

[golinux]

can be, can not be, but it sure doesn't make the one who does look outstanding smart.
I was never that sure if he was running debian at all.

So says the one who registered here 2018-11-28 just a month ago, knows nothing of this forum and is barely out of diapers. You may have the arrogance but no credibility to dump on dasein.

[xepan]

You may have the arrogance but no credibility to dump on dasein

That is correct, but it is ||, not &&. Lucky me.

[alan stone]

On a sidenote: Not everyone thinks good of him.

I'm quite sure he was the least concerned about that. And rightly so.

[llivv]

I'm quite sure he was the least concerned about that. And rightly so.

hi alan dasein and I had a short exchange concerning that at the beginning of our tenure here (more like fiveyear instead of tenure) since dasein thought our forum styles were different, but I digress.
I think you are correct in assuming he was not concerned about his posting style nor mine, as I was not concerned regarding his style. But we both knew it so it made for an interesting dichotomy here for a few years, anyways...
I hope if he see's this post ((where ever he may be), (with us or above us)) he would agree, and still not be concerned regarding how others perceived us, here in this forum....

[xepan]

On a sidenote: Not everyone thinks good of him.

I'm quite sure he was the least concerned about that. And rightly so.

As said: A monkey could do that. And sure isn't concerned bout it either.
His countless how-to's were awesome, of course.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

A monkey could do that

Helping the community fend off help vampires is not a difficult task but it is an important one, I thank dasein for his efforts.

[xepan]

Me too.
You would assume everyone gets bored after 1000 of such posts and has better things to do, but it seems there are people even able to stick to such a task.