Top all-time · #2520
Wil Wheaton
Personal blog · wilwheaton.netculturewriting
Wil Wheaton writes WIL WHEATON dot NET, a personal blog at wilwheaton.net about culture and writing. Since 2012, 30 different Hacker News readers have linked it 39 times, most often “The world is a terrible place right now”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-29, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (16) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Wil Wheaton's posts on depression ("Depression Lies") and his 2018 account of online mob harassment on Twitter and Mastodon. Commenters link them for discussions of depression and online abuse.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 16 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong
Most-linked posts?
- The world is a terrible place right now8 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2018-08-30
- Depression lies2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-09-12
- I was forced to be a child star. It was never my dream or my idea2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-05-26
- Regarding Instagram’s New TOS2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-12-18
- Seven Things I Did to Reboot My Life (by Wil Wheaton)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-10-25
- You can’t pay your rent with “the unique platform and reach our site provides”2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-10-27
What Hacker News says?
If you don't know that part of Wil, yet: https://wilwheaton.net/2012/09/depression-lies/ is a very poignant blog post on depression. It's reinforced by a mirror blog post, written by his wife: https://www.annewheaton.com/the-other-side-of-depression/
Comment linking /2012/09/depression-lies/
on “I was forced to be a child star. It was never my dream or my idea”Submitted Depression lies as a story · 496 points
HN discussion"Eli Lilly" did effectively join Mastodon, in 2018, except that it was Wil Wheaton, and ... things went poorly. Wil joined what was at the time my own home instance, following something of a flameout on Twitter, itself caused by 1) people harassing him there, 2) Wil employing a shared, user-generated blocklist which 3) by both its own size and celeb-driven adoption rendered many other Twitter accounts effectively bl…
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “Scaling Mastodon is impossible”Submitted I was forced to be a child star. It was never my dream or my idea as a story · 483 points
HN discussionLink to the same post on his blog, for the Google+ averse: http://wilwheaton.net/2012/12/regarding-instagrams-new-tos/
Comment linking /2012/12/regarding-instagrams-new-tos/
on “Wil Wheaton on Instagram's new ad policy”Submitted My name is Wil Wheaton. I live with chronic Depression, and I am not ashamed as a story · 166 points
HN discussionIt's a complicated issue however there is a difference: film stars make money from being famous. The more well known they are, the more money they get for an appearance in a film. Being famous is just as much their job as acting. I'm not saying that they therefore have no right to privacy - I'm not even sure exactly what my views are on the issue - but there is definitely a difference. Somewhat related: http://wilwh…
Comment linking /2012/09/heres-my-flabby-forty-year-old-nerdy-self-on-the-beach-in-hawaii/
on “‘Creepy Cameraman’ pushes limits of public surveillance”Submitted Not everyone is going to like the thing you made, and that’s okay as a story · 122 points
HN discussionFor those who were unaware what happened to Wil ( http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-... )
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?”Submitted The world is a terrible place right now as a story · 23 points
HN discussionAs was recently demonstrated, online mob harassment is very doable on Mastodon: http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-...
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “Diaspora: Hello and a big welcome to everyone arriving from Google+”Submitted You can’t pay your rent with “the unique platform and reach our site provides” as a story · 14 points
HN discussionYour anecdote is valid but so is wil Wheaton's http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-...
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “Mastodon’s 2 Year Anniversary”Submitted Seven Things I Did to Reboot My Life (by Wil Wheaton) as a story · 9 points
HN discussionThe linked webpage in the article detailing Wil Wheaton's account of the incident is a thought-provoking read of online mob behavior. http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-...
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “Mastodon and the challenges of abuse in a federated system”Submitted I tried turning it off and back on again as a story · 5 points
HN discussionhttp://wilwheaton.net/2012/09/depression-lies/ is shorter and better. Also from the viewpoint of his wife: https://www.annewheaton.com/the-other-side-of-depression/
Comment linking /2012/09/depression-lies/
on “My name is Wil Wheaton. I live with chronic Depression, and I am not ashamed”Submitted You can’t pay your rent with “the unique platform and reach our site provides” as a story · 5 points
HN discussionTwitter has had (unofficial, via third-party services) user created blocklists for awhile now, but still feel like something only used by power users. And the complaints/anger over censorship still exist — IIRC, Wil Wheaton (the uber-Twitter power user) was hounded off of Twitter and Mastodon because of his promotion of a controversial user’s blacklist: http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-...…
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “Instagram Has a Massive Harassment Problem”Submitted This is why I support a SAG-AFTRA strike authorization as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThe author raises Donald Trump as an example, I'll counter with Wil Wheaton's experience on Mastodon[1]. It's great that there are moderation teams that will accept inflammatory and controversial characters. But if the userbase doesn't believe in freedom of speech, it doesn't really matter if the platform does. 1 - http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-...
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “The Fediverse is better than regular social media”Submitted Hello, World. – WIL WHEATON Dot NET as a story · 4 points
HN discussionWhile I don't have actionable advice for you, on the subject of depression I strongly urge everyone to read this blog post by Wil Wheaton: "Depression Lies", http://wilwheaton.net/2012/09/depression-lies/ It moves me to tears. Afterwards, read his wife's account of it, "The Other Side of Depression", at http://www.annewheaton.com/the-other-side-of-depression/ For an overview of the current scientific knowledge, an i…
Comment linking /2012/09/depression-lies/
on “Ask HN: How to cope with depression”Submitted Seven Things I Did to Reboot My Life (2015) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI totally get why so many peple are jumping to BlueSky, and I may yet, one day, join them. But I'm still almost exclusively on Mathstodon.xyz, only visiting a few places to stay in touch with a few people who are refusing to move (sometimes for perfectly valid reasons). Having said that, I invite you to read this essay: https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/02/ulysses-pact/#tie-yoursel... I found that it expressed eloquen…
Comment linking /2024/11/nothing-but-bluesky-is-such-a-predictable-title-for-this-post/
on “Ask HN: What intelligent forums exist outside of HN?”Submitted One Small Part of a Pretty Great Life as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt might help to expand your horizons a bit. I see a lot of dudes on there I easily spotted for having limited range from the start. The trouble is people like this float too far off the ground and never come down to catch up. They usually lose their touch long before they gain the limelight, but are able to cruise a bit. The big tell: is "being a public intellectual" all they have? Do they have no experiences with…
Comment linking /
on “The Death of a Public Intellectual”Submitted I haven’t thought about the kid who bullied me in over twenty years. as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWheaton has updated an earlier blog post to reflect this incident: http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-...
Comment linking /2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
on “Wilw: this admin is going to suspend my account”Submitted Being a nerd is not about what you love; it’s about how you love it as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
