# Announcing a Doper's death requires Mod/Admin pre-approval **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 24, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122 "2012-06-24T03:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/1 "2012-06-24T03:19:20Z")
I propose adding a requirement to the registration agreement that says a member will not start a thread announcing the death of another member unless they\* have received approval from a Moderator or a Site Administrator. * * * \*And by “they”, I mean a live Doper, not the allegedly dead one. Bunch a smart-alecks is wat y’all is… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/2 "2012-06-24T03:23:13Z")
We live by the honor system. We’ve had relatives come on and post about a member passing. A.R.Canes daughter did that. There were others that i’m blanking on. Including one that wanted some contact information of people close to the poster that had passed away. It’s hard enough for someone to find, register, and post to some message board in passing. Not sure SDMB needs to complicate it more than that even though there are drama queens out there that might want to prank the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/3 "2012-06-24T03:24:28Z")
Doesn’t need to be in the registration agreement. Going forward we will want some real life verification. Mostly that what we’ve asked for in the past … and usually we get it. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/4 "2012-06-24T03:38:44Z")
Not meant as a criticism of those family members who join in order to announce a death: one need not join. One can can e-mail the web admin. I know that one more rule won’t stop someone intent on trolling/hoaxing, but those who do abide by the rules will know that posting a death announcement without authorization could be a sign that a troll is at work. Dopers could then flag the post for a mod’s attention (similar to how a new member whose first post has a commercial link is quickly flagged as a possible spammer). I’m not going to the mat for this suggestion, it’s just a thought I hoped might be useful. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/5 "2012-06-24T04:04:27Z")
The _only_ person who would be announcing my death is the wife. I’ve already given her instructions about notifying the Web admin in the event that something untoward happens to me. She’s already met one mod in person, **twickster** , so it should not be difficult to confirm it’s no joke. I’ve actually encouraged **Mrs Siam Sam** to join up but have yet to persuade her. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/6 "2012-06-24T05:32:07Z")
Bad policy is made when an organization overreacts to exceptional circumstances and gradually accrete laws that stifle it from within. How many years has the Dope been around? How many fake death announcements have there been? If there starts to be a rash of them, maybe we should have this discussion but I think we should just leave it for the time being. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/7 "2012-06-24T14:07:40Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Bad policy is made when an organization overreacts to exceptional circumstances and gradually accrete laws that stifle it from within. How many years has the Dope been around? How many fake death announcements have there been? > > If there starts to be a rash of them, maybe we should have this discussion but I think we should just leave it for the time being. This. If we make an already hard time even harder for people who are essentially doing us a favor, we’ll just have fewer death announcements and more posters disappearing without any explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/8 "2012-06-24T14:46:59Z")
I’m not dead. Updates to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/9 "2012-06-24T16:44:08Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > This. If we make an already hard time even harder for people who are essentially doing us a favor, we’ll just have fewer death announcements and more posters disappearing without any explanation. When I die, I doubt you guys will ever know. My wife doesn’t like the boards, and while my younger sister lurks, she’s never bothered to post even when a thread that cries out for her expertise is open. The nearest she’s ever come to posting is emailing an idea for a hypothetical thread. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/10 "2012-06-24T17:03:02Z")
I’m not sure what problem this solves. I doubt most people read the registration agreement, and even if they do, if someone is unethical enough to post a fake death announcement, they’re probably not overly hung up on either obeying all the Board rules or just lying to the mods as well to get permission to start the announcement thread. “Making a rule against something” is meaningless if the rule can’t be enforced. And to the extent that we need a rule, I’m pretty sure “don’t be a jerk” pretty unambiguously covers fake death announecments. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/11 "2012-06-24T17:26:42Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > I know that one more rule won’t stop someone intent on trolling/hoaxing, but those who do abide by the rules will know that posting a death announcement without authorization could be a sign that a troll is at work. Dopers could then flag the post for a mod’s attention (similar to how a new member whose first post has a commercial link is quickly flagged as a possible spammer). I wouldn’t expect the spouse/child/sibling/parent/whatever of a recently passed Doper to even know to ask permission to start the thread. I mean, how many people would even think to check the rules for something covering how to tell people a poster died? So, pretty much, every report of a Doper’s death would end up flagged as “suspicious.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/12 "2012-06-24T18:14:35Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m not dead. Updates to follow. Or not, as the case may be. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/13 "2012-06-25T01:52:58Z")
Has a situation occured that makes this proposed rule necessary or is it, as it seems, simply rules for the sake of having rules? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/14 "2012-06-25T01:55:44Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Has a situation occured that makes this proposed rule necessary or is it, as it seems, simply rules for the sake of having rules? Yes. I’ve not followed it too closely, but apparently someone signed up last week, said he was someone’s brother and that his poster sister had died. It took a day or two to discover this was a hoax. A recently banned troll is suspected of being the perp. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/15 "2012-06-25T02:20:09Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Bad policy is made when an organization overreacts to exceptional circumstances and gradually accrete laws that stifle it from within. How many years has the Dope been around? How many fake death announcements have there been? This should be tattooed on the head of everyone who starts a thread saying “There should be a rule about…” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/16 "2012-06-25T02:26:17Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > This should be tattooed on the head of everyone who starts a thread saying “There should be a rule about…” That should be a rule. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/17 "2012-06-25T07:11:57Z")
Well, barring an announcement, if I stop posting for more than, say, a month, you’ll know I’m gone. The longest I think I’ve successfully pulled off is a week, but I’m giving myself a little wiggle room. Some of you may consider it sad, but this board is enough a part of my life that there’s no way I’m not going to remember if I’ve not posted here in a while. And to purposefully not tell you would make me a jerk. I’m pretty sure there are some Doper who would throw a party. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/18 "2012-06-25T11:10:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > that there’s no way I’m not going to remember if I’ve not posted here in a while. If you were dead you would not remember not posting here. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/19 "2012-06-25T11:36:58Z")
When I die I’m fairly certain the Internet as we know it will cease to exist. At least as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122/20 "2012-06-25T12:03:12Z")
But people just joining the board (be them trolls or people finding us on Google about to post to a zombie thread) don’t read the rules. They register and post. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/announcing-a-dopers-death-requires-mod-admin-pre-approval/626122.md?page=2)