RIP Jon Postel (Oct 16 1998): RFC Devotee and Internet Pioneer

Please edit the title from "Jon Potel" -> "Jon Postel".

The least we could do is get his name right.

Please.

You should be more liberal in accepting misspellings of his name...

... true, but the story poster should have been strict in what he emitted.

Misspelling his name, so ironic.

Ugh, sorry guys, I'm mortified about this.

You can spend 10 minutes on your first HN submission: is this an interesting link? should devotee be spelled with an accent aigu? is this too churn-y? ... and still embarrass yourself with a stupid mistake like leaving a typo in your hero's name.

edit: Much thanks to whoever corrected the title.

Three people were mourned on the net more than anyone else I can remember, Jon Postel, Richard Stevens, Douglas Adams. You read their eulogies on IRC, Usenet, Wired, New York Times, and Phrack. There is at least one piece of shell-code dedicated to each man :-)

Jon Postel, more than almost anyone else, is one of the main reasons we have the Internet we have today. He created the DNA that set in stone the character of what the Internet really 'is'. This allowed the Internet to transition from a many educational to a commercial entity but still retain its 'open soul'.