Rob Levin, lilo of FreeNode, Passes

sneak was the first of many to tell us of the death of Rob Levin, known as lilo, the head of FreeNode and of its parent organization, PDPC. A transcript from the channel: ".:17:18:40:. [freenode] -christel(i=christel@freenode/staff/gentoo.christe l)-
[Global Notice] On the 12th September Rob Levin, known to many as Freenode's
lilo, was hit by a car while riding his bike. He suffered head injuries and
passed away in hospital on the 16th. For more information please visit
#freenode-announce
17:19:39==> Topic for #freenode-announce: Together with the PDPC board we are
currently preparing a general announcement, please also feel assured that we will
continue working with PDPC to ensure continuous service on freenode, in line with Rob's
mission." Richard Hartmann writes, I just wanted to add that we of FreeNode will create a condolence book. All wellwishes can be sent to [e-mail]."

Rest in Peace :-(

[Eloquence (144160)]

I only had very few interactions with Lilo, but he was always friendly and polite when I did. I am a long time user of FreeNode and a long time Wikipedian. The network has been invaluable to our community, and while of course a project like FreeNode is very much collaborative, I think he personally represented many of the core values that make it a great place for open source and free content projects. This is a very sad day. May he idle in peace. :-(

Re:Rest in Peace :-(

[Jon Chatow (25684)]

As someone who ended up talking to Rob on IRC every couple of days for over a year, and several times by 'phone, I can attest to this absolutely; his help to me in running the Wikimedia IRC channels was both invaluable and amazingly forth-coming - he was seemingly always available, and never anything other than friendly and massively helpful, even for the most tiresome and stupid of questions that I managed to come up with. Good bye, Rob. We will miss you. James F. Wikimedia GC.

Rest in Peace, lilo

[stesch (12896)]

This is a really sad day for freenode. He provided such a good service to all of us. :-(

RIP

[cbrocious (764766)]

I got my start on Freenode many, many years ago, and now have been involved with dozens, possibly hundreds of projects, all on freenode. I've talked with Lilo many times and have never had a bad experience. One of the kindest and most helpful people I've ever met.

My Condolences go out to his family.

RIP lilo

RIP

[tulare (244053)]

My condolences to his family. He worked hard for what we have, right or wrong, and we should respect that and be thankful for what he has left us.

Just announced in #freenode-announce

[Richard_at_work (517087)]

22:58 +christel: Ok, first off, this is not a hoax
22:59 +christel Rob was riding his bike on tuesday when he was hit by a car, he has spent the last few days at the neuro trauma ICU at a local hospital 22:59 +christel: where he has been in a coma
22:59 +christel: the news reached us this morning that Rob passed away early today
23:00 +christel: and we ask that you all respect their privacy at this difficult time
23:01 +christel: Robs funeral is most likely to be monday afternoon, although we have yet to get confirmation as Debs is waiting to hear from the MEs office that it can go ahead as planned 23:01 +christel: and for those local, wishing to show their respects at his funeral, we ask that you email [e-mail] and we will try direct you as we can
23:02 +christel: We will take some questions now and try answer them in channel, it would be appreciated if those with questions message beu, and we will answer on channel
23:02 +christel: thank you

My condolances to Robs friends and family.

'Passes' too bland a euphamism

[Bonker (243350)]

The first time I read the headline I was confused about what it meant. Was there some sort of position he turned down? Did he quit an important job?

I've always despised death euphamisms, though. Trying to tone the tragedy down doesn't make it any easier to deal with for friends, families, or looker-ons. It also takes away from the importance of the death itself.

He's dead. The man was killed in an auto accident. It's a sad, tragic ending, but it's the truth.

Freenode has been a great asset to open source

[starseeker (141897)]

I would estimate that Freenode was responsible for more realtime communication between developers and between users/support than any other single medium, and as such it was and is a major asset to the open source movement. It has undoubtedly helped make many projects much better than would have otherwise been possible/workable.

As a legacy, I'd say that's a pretty good one to leave.

"Passes"?

[Schraegstrichpunkt (931443)]

Enough with the euphemisms, already. Just say that he died. "Passing" is something you do with yesterday's lunch shortly after you've eaten today's.

Passed?

[munpfazy (694689)]

I've got no problem with friends and family members using passive, religiously charged euphemisms when discussing death. If people find it easier to talk about their sister having "passed," that's fine by me.

But when it comes to journalism (or the slashdot equivalent), it comes off as silly at best and offensive at worst.

Rob Levin didn't pass. He didn't "Pass", pass on, nor pass away. He DIED, and he was KILLED. This isn't just death, but death in a horrible, violent, disturbing way.

Getting your head smashed in by an automobile and living for painful hours in a hospital critical care ward isn't gentle. It's horrible, and cruel, and ugly. Using gentle words to describe it doesn't make it any less so. It does us all a disservice by belittling the tragedy of what has actually happened.

Another one?

[MichaelSmith (789609)]

As a bike rider myself the first thing I thought of was the death in March [netbsd.org] of Richard Rauch.

This is sad news. My sympathies to his family.

Why car drivers suck

[antifoidulus (807088)]

Car drivers, especially in the United States, have absolutely 0 regard for bike riders. A professor did an interesting study about how close cars come to bikers when they wear helmets versus when they don't [yahoo.com]. Not to mention in San Francisco they recently delayed a resolution that would build bike paths across the city so that bike riders didn't have to deal with ignorant SUV driving assholes too busy talking on their phone to notice a bike rider.
Sorry for the strong language, but as a bike rider car drivers in America for the most part just totally piss me off. I have to spend my tax money attacking some random oil rich country so you can drive your SUVs, but you get all in a tizzy when I want a bike path so I don't have to worry about you hitting me even though I have as much a right to the road as you do.
Ignorant car drivers disgust me. /Rant

Roads more than drivers

[Infonaut (96956)]

It's not just the drivers. Many roads seem to have been created with no real thought for cyclists. While this is particularly true in big cities (like SF, where the roads are insane for anyone traveling on them), even nice crunchy places like Santa Cruz make bicycle commuting a risky proposition, because they don't see cyclist-friendly roads to be a high enough priority. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly been annihilated because on-street parking forces me almost into the auto lane. Potholes, poorly-designed merge and exit lanes, and fast traffic signals turn a ride to work into a dangerous proposition.

Until there are more people commuting in bikes rather than cars, I don't see the situation changing for the better.

Re:Why car drivers suck

[ubernostrum (219442)]

It goes both ways; I've seen plenty of asshole drivers, but I've also seen lots of cyclists who insist on ignoring traffic laws. Just yesterday as I was driving home from work, sitting at a stop sign, a cyclist came up behind me and went through the intersection without stopping -- quick reflexes on the part of the driver who had right-of-way were the only thing that stopped the cyclist becoming a stain on the pavement. Moral of the story: no matter what sort of vehicle you're operating, when you're on the road the laws of the road apply to you, and you need to be cautious and observant.

Re:Why car drivers suck

[Timesprout (579035)]

Could not agree more. I have ridden and raced bikes all over Europe for years without concern. A few years ago I made the foolish decision to take my bike on vacation to Florida with me to help recover from an injury. I though the a few km in the heat would do me good. 10 mins on a fairly busy road scared the bejesus out of me. Its like I was invisible on US tarmac or something, drivers storming past at 70-80 kph just centimeters from me, not one made the slightest effort to give me any space. Not an experience I am keen to repeat.

What he had to say about himself on Wiki.

[twitter (104583)]

User Rob Levin [wikipedia.org].

As the cars get bigger, bike riding is scarier but remains my only convenient daily exercise.

RIP

[AlXtreme (223728)]

Thanks lilo for your work on freenode, you made many open source projects possible and brought together thousands of people. My condolances go out to his friends and relatives, I feel sorry for your loss.

Re:

[Potor (658520)]

i just ran out of mod points. i wish i had them now.

More Info

[ballermann (124688)]

christel just posted the following in #freenode-announce

christel> Ok, first off, this is not a hoax
christel> Rob was riding his bike on tuesday when he was hit by a car, he has spent the last few days at the neuro trauma ICU at a local hospital
christel> where he has been in a coma
christel> the news reached us this morning that Rob passed away early today
christel> Rob is survived by wife Debbie and son Benjamin
christel> and we ask that you all respect their privacy at this difficult time
christel> Robs funeral is most likely to be monday afternoon, although we have yet to get confirmation as Debs is waiting to hear from the MEs office that it can go ahead as planned
christel> and for those local, wishing to show their respects at his funeral, we ask that you email [e-mail] and we will try direct you as we can
christel> We will take some questions now and try answer them in channel, it would be appreciated if those with questions message beu, and we will answer on channel
christel> thank you
christel> the first question we've had is "What happens to freenode?"
beu> to answer the "who verified this?" question, members of freenode staff have been in contact with Rob's family over the past few days
christel> it is Debs wishes that freenode keeps running as close to normal as possible, and we will be working with the PDPC board to ensure that the network keeps running
beu> we are currently formulating an announcement and hope to have it online soon, in addition to an online "book of condolences"
christel> it has also been asked why lilos client is still connected
christel> i am sure you will all agree that at this point in time, we feel uncomfortable killing his client and find the mere idea rather morbid
christel> Robs nicknames will be quarantined to prevent abuse.
christel> A lot of people have asked how they can help
christel> Debs requests has been that people who knew Rob could donate to PDPC in his memory, or those wishing to make a more general contribution could give something to a bicycle safety campaign in their area.

Re:More Info

[tonsofpcs (687961)]

From #freenode-announce
18:03:10 <+christel> the first question we've had is "What happens to freenode?"
18:04:09 <+christel> it is Debs wishes that freenode keeps running as close to normal as possible, and we will be working with the PDPC board to
                    ensure that the network keeps running
18:05:04 <+christel> it has also been asked why lilos client is still connected
18:05:28 <+christel> i am sure you will all agree that at this point in time, we feel uncomfortable killing his client and find the mere idea
                    rather morbid
18:05:44 <+christel> Robs nicknames will be quarantined to prevent abuse.
18:06:01 <+christel> A lot of people have asked how they can help
18:07:07 <+christel> Debs requests has been that people who knew Rob could donate to PDPC in his memory, or those wishing to make a more general
                    contribution could give something to a bicycle safety campaign in their area.
18:08:32 <+christel> we will also try to coordinate so that we can get some things together for Debs and Benjamin, but at this point in time she
                    has no particular wishes in that regard. Those wishing to help his family however, are encouraged to get in touch with us per email
                    (again [e-mail]) and we will try connect you with those in the area that are coordinating support.
18:08:53 <+christel> "Should lilo's fellow Jews sit shiva for 30 days as is tradition?"
18:09:17 <+christel> I am not jewish, and I dont know much about jewish traditions, so i will leave that up to each and every one of you
                    individually
18:09:25 <+christel> "Where, as in city and state, would the funeral be?
18:09:37 <+christel> Rob lived in Houston, Texas and the funeral will be held there
18:10:08 <+christel> "was lilo wearing a helmet and was the car driver responsible? if they are responsible will they be charged?"
18:10:33 <+christel> lilo was not wearing a helmet, we are unsure at this point about what will happen wrt the driver of the car
18:11:30 <+christel> from what we know, it was a hit and run
18:11:37 <+christel> and the driver has not yet been found
18:12:51 <+christel> Any other questions?
18:15:14 <+christel> I am recieving a lot of priv messages, and I am afraid I can't quite manage to reply to each and every one of you at the
                    moment, but I would like to thank you for the support and condolences
18:16:36 <+christel> "will the name lilo still be in use on the server? be it as a bot, or otherwise?" We will q-line the nick to prevent it
                    from being used.
18:20:48 <+christel> it has been asked why lilos client is idle only 27 hours, the reason for that is most likely scripts running

Please wear a helmet

[spun (1352)]

18:10:08 "was lilo wearing a helmet and was the car driver responsible? if they are responsible will they be charged?"
18:10:33 lilo was not wearing a helmet, we are unsure at this point about what will happen wrt the driver of the car

This is not to blame lilo in any way for not wearing a helmet, but please, let's learn from what happened here. Always wear a helmet when riding a bike. The speed you are going doesn't matter, it's the distance from your head to the ground, which is the same on a bike as it is on a motorcycle. My life was probably saved once because I was wearing a helmet when I hit a pothole after coming off a long hill. Bike helmets nowadays are light-weight and not at all dorky looking.

Again, the driver is to blame for this, not lilo. Doubly so as they fled the scene, when perhaps if they had stayed and summoned help immediately, lilo might have survived.

Rest in peace, lilo. My condolences go out to his family.

Re:RIP lilo

[Emmettfish (573105)]

We had numerous and public arguments. I thought he was a jerk. He felt the same way about me. Both of us knew the good things the other did for the Free Software and Open Source communities, but every time we got into it, it was nothing but pure argument.

I did respect him, and the work that he's done. While I disagree with a lot of the way he managed things, there's no doubt that he did what he did with the best of intentions. He will be missed as both a leader of the community and a human being.

I wish the staff well in the upcoming days and weeks -- It will not be easy. I would urge complainers, sycophants and jerks to back off for a while. Best wishes to his family and friends.

Emmett

Re:

[masklinn (823351)]

WTF?

I don't see any informations on the circumstances of the accident, nor what happened to the car's driver. For all we know it could've been a mechanical issue with the car, or the driver didn't pay enough attention and is in jail, or anything.

I know this is slashdot, but how about not being stupid and judgemental just for once?

Re:Who hit him?

[nacturation (646836)]

Who's with me?

I hope the police are, so they can arrest you. What's missing in all of this are the details. Maybe Rob went down an embankment that was too steep and his brakes failed, causing him to veer into oncoming traffic causing an unavoidable accident for the unfortunate motorist who happened to be there. Perhaps Rob wasn't wearing a bicycle helmet, further complicating any head trauma. Maybe he was wearing dark clothing and cycling at night without any lights or reflective gear.

It's amazing that we live in an age where we have access to computers and, through that, to some of the world's best accumulated wisdom and knowledge. And yet there are still some shits like you who want to pick up the pitchforks and torches to arrange a lynch mob even when you likely don't possess any detailed information on the circumstances. But even if you were there and know everything firsthand, I still find your reaction a little too stuck in the dark ages.
 

Re:Who hit him?

[bcmm (768152)]

to err is human

Granted, but this was a hit-and-run. That means that after hitting him, the driver drove off to avoid having to face the consequences, probably lengthening the time it took for help to arrive. That isn't an error, it's a deliberate, selfish attempt to get himself off the hook. I hope someone witnessed it and got the licence plate number, because IIRC the driver can go to prison for not stopping.

BTW I don't agree with the GP, I just don't think "to err is human" applies here.