I think it just implies that HN users are informed by popular culture. Not every cultural figure is likely to be as important to HN users as every other, but some[0] clearly are, and posts about deaths are of a different sort.<p>[0]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?query=dies&amp;sort=byPopularity&amp;prefix=false&amp;page=0&amp;dateRange=all&amp;type=story" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com&#x2F;?query=dies&amp;sort=byPopularity&amp;prefix=...</a>