Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21
The founders of Diaspora were in a really unenviable position.  They started off with a wave of national press as well as solid financial support from grassroot users.  As time went on, it became increasingly clear that they would not be able to accomplish the goal they originally set out to do.  They had failed. Publicly. This can be very devastating psychologically to someone who has always 'succeeded' in life.<p>I'm not saying this was the case for Ilya, or had any part in his death, but I know for me it would have been hard to swallow.  There are many silent founders out there that gave up everything for an unrealized dream in the path to startup success and it has a real toll on psyches.<p>Best wishes to his family & friends.<p>EDIT: This appears to be a very controversial comment.  The vote count seems to be oscillating up and down very rapidly.  I don't want to make this out to be a discussion about Diaspora, so I won't comment further on that point.  But the mental health of founders is a real issue and rarely discussed. Maybe there should be a more open discussion about this issue.