On my way home last night, I had this really mundane, pointless thought. If I died, no-one at the Dope would know. Yes, there would be a National Day of Mourning, I would get a 21 gun salute which would only upset the pigeons, and the cheesecake at the wake would be good. But as far as the Dope would be concerned, **Mellivora capensis ** would just, *::choof:: * disappear.
Which got me thinking. How many Dopers have died while still active members, and we just don’t know about them? Hmmm, yes, there’s no answer to that question, otherwise we would know, and there would be no question, hence its stupidity.
However, I do have this question, which does have a miniscule possibility of an answer. Am I the only one who has wondered about this?
Worse still is the thought that the SDMB would indeed become informed and a celebration would break out.
Or perhaps you don’t share my social insecurities.
Suggestion (that I haven’t yet taken): email someone here that you feel akin to that can notify people in case of your demise-make sure someone in RL knows this person’s email addy. Another board I’m on has done that, in fact, whenever someone is hospitalized, we have a thread about it. I am NOT suggesting that for here, just showing that solutions do exist for this problem.
I live alone, so I think about this shit IRL. (My next-door neighbor has a key, and I’ve told her that if several days go by with zero signs of activity in my half of the twin, to feel free to come in and look around.)
I’m hoping my sister will fire up my computer and send out a mass email to everyone in my address book, so word can get out. There are a bunch of Dopers there, so that would take care of it.
I have wondered about this myself. I’ve also wondered how long it would take to notice that someone was actually gone. I suspect that if you’re not one of the people in view around here, it might never be noticed. Which, perhaps, is a good reason to have the occasional hysterical meltdown.
There was a thread about this once. I wouldn’t go more than 8 hours before Mr. K would find me. Sadly, many dopers said it would be days, weeks, even longer for them.
If I disappeared off the Dope, I’m pretty sure no one here would know as I don’t socialize with any of you off line. Plus, I’m not considered an alpha Doper.
In real life I’m pretty much accounted for. If I take a tumble from my motorbike, or I fall off a mountain somewhere, or I get hit by an asteroid, I have a Medic Alert chain which sets the whole contact kaboodle in motion.
If you go out in a blaze of glory and it makes the news it’ll pop up here. Just make sure you wear a t-shirt with your username on it when the time comes.
Well, by “alpha”, I mean people who are generally leaders in opinion and/or can articulate their thoughts without pissing off the teeming millions. I struggle with that daily. Sigh…
But I do like it here, and I’ve never received a bitch-slapping via email. I s’pose I’ve got THAT going for me.
My, you HAVE been showing up in appropriate places for your user name lately… here, and I just saw you in the thread about service - you posted right after someone mentioned their sister worked in a restaurant named after a 1967 hit single…
I’ve appeared in a churchyard, buried along with my name? And see, nobody came to THAT either…
Dayum–I NEVER get these memos!
I think I am known as the nice Doper who has no cites and isn’t really a serious player in all this. <sigh> (they’re right about the cites–if I had time and better computer skills…). In fact, I’m most likely the vanilla ice cream of the Dope. Yippee.
I should find someone that would be kind enough to notify at least the MMPers of my sudden demise. Let me just spin the big prize wheel over here and find out who that will be.
exactly. The every-so-often “Will anyone know if I die?” thread, you were buried with your name, and nobody came. They mention a restaurant named after a song, you pop up. Fitting.
And what is wrong with vanilla ice cream? I like it. They wouldn’t sell so much if it wasn’t good.
