Death of members.

In the many years I have been online, I have seen many online friends come and go. It is by far at time the most heart wrenching thought one can have that one's online buddy is not ever coming back.

In the many forums I am on, I have seen the different ways they handle it.
Its usually a post of the deceased, followed by several posts of condolences, sympathy and empathy.

But in many cases the deceased member's account is not deleted, in order to preserve his past posts.

But also notification. How does one get such information. Sometimes the web helps if his friends are also his online buddies and they can pass the message to the rest of us. Other times close online buddies who share personal but electronic contact can do this. Rare it is family because of they do not know about what they do online or know his accounts and passwords.

So before my absence declares me as dead in action, I would like us to somehow rectify this little problem. Question is: how.

Well we don't delete the accounts of members who no longer post (or ever posted), so if word of a member passing is announced, I say we just follow current form and leave the account alone.

Well, thanks for that depressing thought. To be honest, I'm pretty sure if I were to die in a freak accident, I would just disappear, and no one on any of the forums I visit will know what happened to me. I have no idea how that sort of information would get out anyways. I guess when I get a little older, I might write a will, and add in a clause that I'd like for a close friend or family member to let all my online friends know of my passing, but that's not something I've really thought about. In another forum that I frequent, there is a special rank for people who have passed on, and their username would be in a different colour, which in that case, is blue. Of course their account and their posts would not be deleted.

I certainly wouldn't go deleting accounts...

Notification though, as you said, is more problematic. Personally I know I'm friends with a few people here on facebook, and I'd like to think that at least one of my real life friends, in the case of my demise, would be bright enough to jump on my computer or phone to throw up some form of notification there.

the worrying thing is how many people will end up pressing the like button upon reading of our demise !