Real Identity
_why never publicly revealed his own identity while he was active as _why. Shortly before he left the public eye, an anonymous blog was posted, identifying him as Jonathan Gillette, and offering detailed information about his identity, including his schooling, his address, his membership in the band The Child Who Was a Keyhole, and the identity of his spouse. At the time, he did not make any statement on his being outed.
While his offline identity was considered common knowledge in the Ruby coding community, it remained unconfirmed until a 2012 article in Slate magazine about _why's influence in the coding world. Annie Lowrey did not speak to him directly, but received a statement from a fellow programmer saying, "Jonathan is _why, he is fine, and he just wants to be left alone."
Read more about this topic: Why The Lucky Stiff
Famous quotes containing the words real and/or identity:
“In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“There is a terrible blindness in the love that wants only to accommodate. It’s not only to do with omissions and half-truths. It implants a lack of being in the speaker and robs the self of an identity without which it is impossible for one to grow close to another.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)