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* [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv"
@ 2022-07-20 21:56 northernlights
  2022-07-20 22:14 ` northernlights
  2022-07-21  1:44 ` [9front] " magma698hfsp273p9f
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: northernlights @ 2022-07-20 21:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

Hello all,

I'm writing to inform you of the death of a Plan 9 community figure who 
went by the username "mycroftiv." I believe Stephen Jones (smj) already 
passed the news along to some of you.

He mentioned that some of you wanted some information. As far as what he 
died of, all I know is that it was pneuomnia. He was the former partner of 
9 years of a housemate here in a large co-op I live in. They split in 
January due to events that I won't go into detail about out of respect for 
the privacy of those involved, including a minor. He was no longer welcome 
on the property - he had been a member who lived here part time - due to 
the events which led to the split. This would not have been a factor in 
his death, as he co-owned a house with his mother.

If anybody has known mycroftiv for some time, you probably know that he 
had Bipolar Disorder I. He was in a long and what seemed to be constantly 
escalating manic episode (he generally refused treatment) and had been 
since, I don't know, last fall. He also had some physical health problems 
and was not too young, and I suppose mania can take a physical toll after 
a while, not to mention whatever behaviors might go along with it. (I 
myself got a lung x-ray for some reason when I was admitted to a psych 
ward during a manic episode once.)

He had made our lives very difficult over the past months (although I 
can't imagine how much more difficult for the people most directly 
involved.) Condolences, exactly, are not in order; the person he was 
thought to be has generally already been grieved. I know the same is 
probably not true for many of you. It is, in fact, very sad for me, but 
again, it "happened" some time ago, and in a different way.

I am sorry to pass along this news.

I'll try to show up in IRC some time soon, and you are welcome to write to 
me at northernlights@sdf.org.

-northernlights

northernlights@sdf.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-20 21:56 [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv" northernlights
@ 2022-07-20 22:14 ` northernlights
  2022-07-21 11:37   ` hiro
  2022-07-21  1:44 ` [9front] " magma698hfsp273p9f
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: northernlights @ 2022-07-20 22:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

Oh, also, in the course of things, if he was maintaining anything in the
way of servers or what have you, I imagine all of that will go down some
time soon.

> Hello all,
>
> I'm writing to inform you of the death of a Plan 9 community figure who
> went by the username "mycroftiv." I believe Stephen Jones (smj) already
> passed the news along to some of you.
>
> He mentioned that some of you wanted some information. As far as what he
> died of, all I know is that it was pneuomnia. He was the former partner of
> 9 years of a housemate here in a large co-op I live in. They split in
> January due to events that I won't go into detail about out of respect for
> the privacy of those involved, including a minor. He was no longer welcome
> on the property - he had been a member who lived here part time - due to
> the events which led to the split. This would not have been a factor in
> his death, as he co-owned a house with his mother.
>
> If anybody has known mycroftiv for some time, you probably know that he
> had Bipolar Disorder I. He was in a long and what seemed to be constantly
> escalating manic episode (he generally refused treatment) and had been
> since, I don't know, last fall. He also had some physical health problems
> and was not too young, and I suppose mania can take a physical toll after
> a while, not to mention whatever behaviors might go along with it. (I
> myself got a lung x-ray for some reason when I was admitted to a psych
> ward during a manic episode once.)
>
> He had made our lives very difficult over the past months (although I
> can't imagine how much more difficult for the people most directly
> involved.) Condolences, exactly, are not in order; the person he was
> thought to be has generally already been grieved. I know the same is
> probably not true for many of you. It is, in fact, very sad for me, but
> again, it "happened" some time ago, and in a different way.
>
> I am sorry to pass along this news.
>
> I'll try to show up in IRC some time soon, and you are welcome to write to
> me at northernlights@sdf.org.
>
> -northernlights
>
> northernlights@sdf.org
> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org
>



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* [9front] Re: Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-20 21:56 [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv" northernlights
  2022-07-20 22:14 ` northernlights
@ 2022-07-21  1:44 ` magma698hfsp273p9f
  2022-07-21  5:05   ` Eli Cohen
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: magma698hfsp273p9f @ 2022-07-21  1:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

northernlights@SDF.ORG writes:

> He had made our lives very difficult over the past months (although I
> can't imagine how much more difficult for the people most directly
> involved.) Condolences, exactly, are not in order; the person he was
> thought to be has generally already been grieved.

In lieu of gloating (really?) about mycroftiv's death, perhaps we could
reflect on his contributions to the P9 community.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Re: Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-21  1:44 ` [9front] " magma698hfsp273p9f
@ 2022-07-21  5:05   ` Eli Cohen
  2022-07-21  5:41     ` Kurt H Maier
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Eli Cohen @ 2022-07-21  5:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

I also would like to correct you about this. That's not the proper way
you would deliver a eulogy in person.

It's good to consider your audience when you're addressing people.
When you feel sorry before you hit send, just don't send it!

On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 9:18 PM <magma698hfsp273p9f@icebubble.org> wrote:
>
> northernlights@SDF.ORG writes:
>
> > He had made our lives very difficult over the past months (although I
> > can't imagine how much more difficult for the people most directly
> > involved.) Condolences, exactly, are not in order; the person he was
> > thought to be has generally already been grieved.
>
> In lieu of gloating (really?) about mycroftiv's death, perhaps we could
> reflect on his contributions to the P9 community.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Re: Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-21  5:05   ` Eli Cohen
@ 2022-07-21  5:41     ` Kurt H Maier
  2022-07-21  6:39       ` Eli Cohen
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Kurt H Maier @ 2022-07-21  5:41 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

northernlights,

Thank you for the information.  Several of us are working to preserve
what content we can before the servers go dark.  You're welcome any time
on IRC.


On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 10:05:25PM -0700, Eli Cohen wrote:
> I also would like to correct you about this. That's not the proper way
> you would deliver a eulogy in person.
> 
> It's good to consider your audience when you're addressing people.
> When you feel sorry before you hit send, just don't send it!
> 
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 9:18 PM <magma698hfsp273p9f@icebubble.org> wrote:
> >
> > In lieu of gloating (really?) about mycroftiv's death, perhaps we could
> > reflect on his contributions to the P9 community.

This person was kind enough to reach out and provide some context and
information we didn't previously have.   Please stop bikeshedding their
words and just be grateful for the information.  Try to value the
honesty instead of this performative tone policing.  If you just can't
hold it in, go blog about it.


khm

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Re: Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-21  5:41     ` Kurt H Maier
@ 2022-07-21  6:39       ` Eli Cohen
  2022-07-21  7:16         ` sirjofri
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Eli Cohen @ 2022-07-21  6:39 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

well, you're right. I still like you better than northernlights anyway
though, but not as much as I liked mycroftiv

On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 10:43 PM Kurt H Maier <khm@sciops.net> wrote:
>
> northernlights,
>
> Thank you for the information.  Several of us are working to preserve
> what content we can before the servers go dark.  You're welcome any time
> on IRC.
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 10:05:25PM -0700, Eli Cohen wrote:
> > I also would like to correct you about this. That's not the proper way
> > you would deliver a eulogy in person.
> >
> > It's good to consider your audience when you're addressing people.
> > When you feel sorry before you hit send, just don't send it!
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 9:18 PM <magma698hfsp273p9f@icebubble.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > In lieu of gloating (really?) about mycroftiv's death, perhaps we could
> > > reflect on his contributions to the P9 community.
>
> This person was kind enough to reach out and provide some context and
> information we didn't previously have.   Please stop bikeshedding their
> words and just be grateful for the information.  Try to value the
> honesty instead of this performative tone policing.  If you just can't
> hold it in, go blog about it.
>
>
> khm

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Re: Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-21  6:39       ` Eli Cohen
@ 2022-07-21  7:16         ` sirjofri
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: sirjofri @ 2022-07-21  7:16 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front


21.07.2022 08:39:58 Eli Cohen <echoline@gmail.com>:

> well, you're right. I still like you better than northernlights anyway
> though, but not as much as I liked mycroftiv
>>
>> This person was kind enough to reach out and provide some context and
>> information we didn't previously have.   Please stop bikeshedding 
>> their
>> words and just be grateful for the information.  Try to value the
>> honesty instead of this performative tone policing.  If you just can't
>> hold it in, go blog about it.

I want to add that northernlights surely knew mycroftiv better than most 
of us, at least, his real-life part. I only know of one person (on grid) 
who had a phone call with him. So I can't say who he was in real life, 
how he behaved, what he did. I only know his view he presented in chat, 
as well as his online presence, which is only just a fragment of his 
personality.

A big part of this fragment will live on in our hearts and on our 
servers, and who knows, maybe this fragment is part of what he wanted to 
be? But that's also only speculation.

I'm not the emotional guy myself, and I can't say that I'll miss him 
(emotionally) or that it's sad (emotionally), because I'm just not that 
person(1). But I can still understand all people who go through this as I 
had quite deep experiences with the deaths of people close to me.

I hope we can live through this and support each other where needed.

For the people who were close to him in real life and feel bad and 
depressed because of his death, I just hope they're not alone and not 
hated for it. I hope they can live on normally at some point.

sirjofri,
who wrote lots of walls of texts with mycroftiv on gridchat back when I 
started using 9 for real.

(1) of course it is sad when someone dies, and I'll miss him here and 
there. I'll just not have many tears about it. Don't get me wrong.


PS: I hope you can understand my English. In the thread there were some 
passages I had to translate because I didn't understand them properly, 
and it's a quite heavy topic.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-20 22:14 ` northernlights
@ 2022-07-21 11:37   ` hiro
  2022-07-21 22:20     ` northernlights
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: hiro @ 2022-07-21 11:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

that something "happened" showed parallels in his "interactive fiction" game:

https://www.springthing.net/2022/stories/HypercubicTimeWarp/HypercubicTimeWarp.zip

mycroftiv always seemed quite open about all his problems, i hope that
in itself is not creating more problems for others involved, as i
always appreciated breaking the taboos around talking about or dealing
with psychological issues.

i can't tell if the act of releasing this interactive-fiction game (i
understand after they had already split up) is endorsed, or respected,
by the people left behind, it becomes a question to me when
northernlights mentions "privacy of those involved".

i'm certainly sorry for any pain caused to the ones physically close.
the comfort of my far digital displacement probably is quite blinding
in other ways.

On 7/21/22, northernlights@sdf.org <northernlights@sdf.org> wrote:
> Oh, also, in the course of things, if he was maintaining anything in the
> way of servers or what have you, I imagine all of that will go down some
> time soon.
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I'm writing to inform you of the death of a Plan 9 community figure who
>> went by the username "mycroftiv." I believe Stephen Jones (smj) already
>> passed the news along to some of you.
>>
>> He mentioned that some of you wanted some information. As far as what he
>> died of, all I know is that it was pneuomnia. He was the former partner
>> of
>> 9 years of a housemate here in a large co-op I live in. They split in
>> January due to events that I won't go into detail about out of respect
>> for
>> the privacy of those involved, including a minor. He was no longer
>> welcome
>> on the property - he had been a member who lived here part time - due to
>> the events which led to the split. This would not have been a factor in
>> his death, as he co-owned a house with his mother.
>>
>> If anybody has known mycroftiv for some time, you probably know that he
>> had Bipolar Disorder I. He was in a long and what seemed to be constantly
>> escalating manic episode (he generally refused treatment) and had been
>> since, I don't know, last fall. He also had some physical health problems
>> and was not too young, and I suppose mania can take a physical toll after
>> a while, not to mention whatever behaviors might go along with it. (I
>> myself got a lung x-ray for some reason when I was admitted to a psych
>> ward during a manic episode once.)
>>
>> He had made our lives very difficult over the past months (although I
>> can't imagine how much more difficult for the people most directly
>> involved.) Condolences, exactly, are not in order; the person he was
>> thought to be has generally already been grieved. I know the same is
>> probably not true for many of you. It is, in fact, very sad for me, but
>> again, it "happened" some time ago, and in a different way.
>>
>> I am sorry to pass along this news.
>>
>> I'll try to show up in IRC some time soon, and you are welcome to write
>> to
>> me at northernlights@sdf.org.
>>
>> -northernlights
>>
>> northernlights@sdf.org
>> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org
>>
>
>
>

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv"
  2022-07-21 11:37   ` hiro
@ 2022-07-21 22:20     ` northernlights
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: northernlights @ 2022-07-21 22:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: 9front

I didn't know of this game. It seems to be functional on MacOS? I'm not
running MacOS, and I don't know that I want to see the content anyway. But
yes, that's his visage. Anything else regarding the game I can't speak to.

Some time before he died, he had gone back to "Ben," incidentally, and
he/him pronouns; I haven't been doing any deliberate misgendering.

This was all intended as information, not a eulogy. If people who knew him
online want to reminisce or eulogize, by all means. But at least now you
know; and you know that he didn't die homeless and in a gutter (he was in
the hospital), he didn't die in prison, he didn't die as a victim of
violence, hopefully there wasn't too much suffering involved. (I have my
own personal feelings - which are slightly complicated, there are moments
that haunt me - but I didn't wish a painful death on him.) He was
evidently still in contact with his mother, so I assume family was
present. (His ex found out in a note from his mom taped on a box, in the
process of trying to recover some important/sentimental possessions from
his house.) And it's not just radio silence; I've been through that
before.

His ex and I were up late talking in the wee hours recently and for some
reason the Plan 9 stuff came up and she mentioned that they didn't have
any way to let people know that if there was anything they depended on, it
was probably going to go down. By some odd kismet, I ended up being able
to. I'm glad it was me and not them to do so, tbh. It was something I
could to do beyond emotional support.

My absolute #1 priority through all of this had been, is, and will
continue to be the safety and well-being of my friend and her kid (well,
kids as it turns out, she has another kid who doesn't live here with us,)
as well as that of the community I call home. Any community that doesn't
prioritize its children is not one I want to be a part of. I suppose my
own safety and well-being, and sanity, should be a concern as well; I
don't always pay enough attention to them.

I can say that out of care and concern for Ben (well, and others), during
one particularly bad incident early on, I took care and precautions *not*
to get police involved, but rather a mental health care team. This has all
been incredibly fucked up and trying for everybody involved, and there has
been a lot of stress, and fear and worry, and tears.

I thank those who reacted appropriately, I'm glad I could do something
which is hopefully helpful, and again, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad
news. I know it is hard to lose a friend, even one you knew from a
distance, and like I said, your feelings are sure to be different from
ours at this moment.

Take care,

-nl

> that something "happened" showed parallels in his "interactive fiction"
> game:
>
> https://www.springthing.net/2022/stories/HypercubicTimeWarp/HypercubicTimeWarp.zip
>
> mycroftiv always seemed quite open about all his problems, i hope that
> in itself is not creating more problems for others involved, as i
> always appreciated breaking the taboos around talking about or dealing
> with psychological issues.
>
> i can't tell if the act of releasing this interactive-fiction game (i
> understand after they had already split up) is endorsed, or respected,
> by the people left behind, it becomes a question to me when
> northernlights mentions "privacy of those involved".
>
> i'm certainly sorry for any pain caused to the ones physically close.
> the comfort of my far digital displacement probably is quite blinding
> in other ways.
>
> On 7/21/22, northernlights@sdf.org <northernlights@sdf.org> wrote:
>> Oh, also, in the course of things, if he was maintaining anything in the
>> way of servers or what have you, I imagine all of that will go down some
>> time soon.
>>
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I'm writing to inform you of the death of a Plan 9 community figure who
>>> went by the username "mycroftiv." I believe Stephen Jones (smj) already
>>> passed the news along to some of you.
>>>
>>> He mentioned that some of you wanted some information. As far as what
>>> he
>>> died of, all I know is that it was pneuomnia. He was the former partner
>>> of
>>> 9 years of a housemate here in a large co-op I live in. They split in
>>> January due to events that I won't go into detail about out of respect
>>> for
>>> the privacy of those involved, including a minor. He was no longer
>>> welcome
>>> on the property - he had been a member who lived here part time - due
>>> to
>>> the events which led to the split. This would not have been a factor in
>>> his death, as he co-owned a house with his mother.
>>>
>>> If anybody has known mycroftiv for some time, you probably know that he
>>> had Bipolar Disorder I. He was in a long and what seemed to be
>>> constantly
>>> escalating manic episode (he generally refused treatment) and had been
>>> since, I don't know, last fall. He also had some physical health
>>> problems
>>> and was not too young, and I suppose mania can take a physical toll
>>> after
>>> a while, not to mention whatever behaviors might go along with it. (I
>>> myself got a lung x-ray for some reason when I was admitted to a psych
>>> ward during a manic episode once.)
>>>
>>> He had made our lives very difficult over the past months (although I
>>> can't imagine how much more difficult for the people most directly
>>> involved.) Condolences, exactly, are not in order; the person he was
>>> thought to be has generally already been grieved. I know the same is
>>> probably not true for many of you. It is, in fact, very sad for me, but
>>> again, it "happened" some time ago, and in a different way.
>>>
>>> I am sorry to pass along this news.
>>>
>>> I'll try to show up in IRC some time soon, and you are welcome to write
>>> to
>>> me at northernlights@sdf.org.
>>>
>>> -northernlights
>>>
>>> northernlights@sdf.org
>>> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2022-07-21 22:23 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 9+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2022-07-20 21:56 [9front] Death of user "mycroftiv" northernlights
2022-07-20 22:14 ` northernlights
2022-07-21 11:37   ` hiro
2022-07-21 22:20     ` northernlights
2022-07-21  1:44 ` [9front] " magma698hfsp273p9f
2022-07-21  5:05   ` Eli Cohen
2022-07-21  5:41     ` Kurt H Maier
2022-07-21  6:39       ` Eli Cohen
2022-07-21  7:16         ` sirjofri

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