I really wish that he did too. Seems that All the negative comments made it not worthwhile which is just a damn shame because the rest of the world has to lose out now.
I was hoping he would have done what other controversial(Zed Shaw) and not so controversial(Joel Spolsky) blog authors have done and just turn off the comments and moved on, rather than shut it down.
However, he is not indebted to us to keep writing so my opinion doesn't really count in that regard.
I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore, but it always amazes me that the users on Hacker News actually have positive and relevant things to say. I still find it odd (though pleasant) that there's a part of the internet that hasn't turned into a shithole yet.