Of course you're free to discuss. You're belittling the author's expression of grief because their job was 'routine maintenance' of 'some CSS spec (...) which tens of thousands of other people have been doing for probably 2 decades now' and I'm saying they're entitled to their grief regardless of how you feel about the job's content.

Yes, they're a cog, as almost all of us are, and it would have been better for their own sake to realise that, but losing something you enjoy still sucks.