Steven Den Beste, RIP

Steven Den Beste, one of the quintessential early bloggers (dubbed by someone one of the “Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse” in those silly days when this medium was new) has passed after a long illness. Brickmuppet has a nice collection of tributes along with a summary of the news:

Steven was brilliant, a former engineer with a crackerjack mind. His old blog, U.S.S. Clueless was tremendously important in the early days of the ‘blogosphere’. It is hard to overstate the importance of U.S.S. Clueless and the brilliance of his analysis. Sadly, that site went down this past week as well, when Steven’s server failed. That site was immensely influential to many of us, and I am far from the only person he inspired to blog or helped along.
Bill Whittle once described Steven as

..brilliant, insightful, inspiring and ALWAYS RIGHT.

Bill, like so many others, was positively impacted by Steven’s writings and inspired to do his own. Mr. Whittle also described Steven as one of the most gentle people he had known.
Some years ago, due to declining health and vicious internet trolling, Steven started Chizumatic to focus on less consequential topics, but he continued to be inspirational and influential in his new bailiwick.

U.S.S. Clueless went away a dozen years ago and SDB’s production there slowed down before that, but I do recall reading and enjoying his incredibly long and unbloglike (especially in those days) missives there. I didn’t share his interest in anime so largely lost touch with his work.

May he rest in peace.

Hat tips: Jon Henke and Glenn Reynolds

FILED UNDER: Blogosphere, Obituaries, , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Barry says:

    “Steven was brilliant, a former engineer with a crackerjack mind. His old blog, U.S.S. Clueless was tremendously important in the early days of the ‘blogosphere’. It is hard to overstate the importance of U.S.S. Clueless and the brilliance of his analysis. Sadly, that site went down this past week as well, when Steven’s server failed. That site was immensely influential to many of us, and I am far from the only person he inspired to blog or helped along.
    Bill Whittle once described Steven as
    ..brilliant, insightful, inspiring and ALWAYS RIGHT.”

    You mean the guy who predicted a war between France and the US over Iraq?

    I’d like to know what, if anything, he was right about.

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  2. Aristotle says:

    @Barry: Stay classy, nobody “Barry.”

    RIP SDB.

  3. What a sad day.  I heard about it just as I was putting in the DVD for “Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST” when I glanced at my laptop and found out about Steven’s death.  Once I finished my business, I darted to the Internet to read the depressing news.  This can’t be happening!  Does anyone have contact info for Steven’s brother?

  4. PJ says:

    The link to his current site should probably be labeled NSFW.

  5. PJ says:

    @PJ:
    Have any of the down-voters actually visited it?

  6. Slugger says:

    I read him back in the day. “After a long illness” is understood as a euphemism for a struggle with cancer by me. I hope his transition was easy and accompanied by loved ones, insight, and rewarding reflections.

  7. Kathy Kinsley says:

    Not cancer, from what I’ve read – he had a genetic degenerative disease of some sort.

    I just hope he’s reading how many miss him from somewhere – despite his beliefs.

  8. dxq says:

    He wrote an essay about how put out he was about having to wait so long for the iraq war to start. The stupid war GWB initiated, which killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and he literally wrote an essay complaining that he was sooooooooooo bored and wanted to get to killing.

    That, and being arrogantly wrong about everything, and not understanding how to write concisely, and having a weird thing for cartoon asian women, is what he’ll be briefly remembered for.

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