This message board has put a lot of distance between its beginnings on AOL, its subsequent morph to the Internet ca. 1999, and now.
Fourteen fucking years and still counting.
I think the community has become stronger, and I hope that’s a good thing. I try to keep up with who’s coming and going, but there are too many current and past members for even a frequent poster like myself to keep track of every little detail. I see dopers with 5K posts that I don’t instantly recognize, and I feel inadequate. 
Recently, I posted in what I knew was a zombie thread, and I knew one doper had not been active for a while, but I didn’t know (or didn’t remember) he had died (Walloon). (If he had replied, that would have taken the definition of a zombie thread to a new level.)
There are some other names (I am making a list) of dopers – good ones, even – who I have not seen for a while. Are they dead, censored, or what? Their profile doesn’t give any hints, and inquiring minds want to know.
So I thought I’d bring up this subject in the hopes there might be a good and simple solution. The first thing that comes to mind is that a mod could put a note in the poster’s profile, at least of a death or maybe serious illness (with permission, of course).
Or perhaps a sticky in ATMB with information as to the whereabouts of missing, but well-known dopers, a thread heavily moderated to avoid errors and unfortunate, erroneous information such as…well, you know what I mean. A short story about WallyM7 might be appropriate, too, as well as a brief mention of some hoaxes.
As for me, if something bad happens – not that anyone here cares – I have a note on my fridge that I hope someone will read, and email a mod. I hate a mystery and don’t want to be part of one. If I kick the computer, I want y’all to at least raise a toast and celebrate!
