You are coming from a bit of an asshole perspective. While hacker news guidelines are certainly useful in the majority of links posted, I am sure they can be bent for a death notice that may personally move members of the community.
Additionally, as has already begun on this thread, there are certainly interesting thoughts that can sprout from the initial link given even a modicum of intellectual curiosity -- how social networks and online communities can deal with death, for example, or how support staff should be integrated into company culture.
At any rate, enough other people have found the post interesting or relevant enough to upvote it.