I was going over the thread about poohpah chalupa’s death and it occured to me that when a member dies a nice way of remembering them would be to change the user status underneath their name. Maybe “fondly rembered” or something. Just thought I’d toss that out.
I’ll second that suggestion. I think it would be a nice memorial in itself to our friends no longer with us, especially when those who come after us find their posts and discover how special these people were to us.
I do hope that it can be done.
Good points, but there’s always the problem that we really don’t know when a member dies, aside from the few that we find out about as a whole.
But that doesn’t mean that those we know about should be ignored. I think it is a wonderful idea.
With more than 28,000 members I imagine that more than a few have died, and it’s regretful that we cannot mourn them more formally. However for those that we know have died I don’t see the problem with giving them some special recognition.
Unless you’re worried about someone faking their own death thinking they’re funny. In that case it might be a good idea to remove user privliges from everyone we believe is dead. It’s not like they should be logging on anytime soon and it would help cut down on potential pranksters.
I think a simple “vale” would be appropriate.
I once suggested a “Rest In Peace” status for WallyM7. One opinion was maybe, but he still is and always will be considered a true “Member” of this board. I don’t think this would change with a special status (on the contrary), but didn’t pursue it further. It’d be a nice thing.
Yes and no. A poster would not be able to really fake his or her own death: What do you do, e-mail TubaDiva and say “Hey, by the way, I died yesterday”? If we find out about a Doper’s death, it’s going to be through another poster. The prank you’d have to worry about is someone posting that another member had died. We’ve already had a case where a member’s then-girlfriend posted that he’d been in an accident and was in critical condition, only to have him show up the next Monday and ask what all the fuss was about. I think that a policy for deceased members would only be worse.
As Chronos said, such a special member status could give rise to all kinds of abuse with trolls trying to stir up trouble - someone looks up a member that hasn’t posted in a few weeks and e-mails us saying “so-and-so was a buddy of mine and I just find out s/he died.” But the staff shall consider the possibility.
Maybe they could put something in the LOCATION field that would indicate where they now are?
I like that idea handy! Perhaps something like “Joined the choir invisible”.
Except that any Doper could then put the same thing in their location if they were so inclined …
You people are all so pessimistic. I hate thinking that there are people in this world who would abuse something such as an honour to lost friends…grrrr…this upsets me!
slight alternative solution: Different font. Rather than Arial or TNR or whatever this font is, use something distinguishable - create a font or something. Or better yet, a different colour. Someone would REALLY have to go out of their way to get the same look. And since only admins/mods could have access to the new font (I’m assuming), then you know who has that correct title and who doesn’t, and a stern talking-to would be in order for those who didn’t. I ASSUME this is possible with the board features, which, to be honest, I know nothing about, but there HAS to be some way! I’d hate to think that we couldn’t remember our lost friends because we’re afraid of some stupid little trolls.
If we change the title, only staff members could do that. We would have to figure out how to determine when people are telling the truth though. e.g. suppose mnemosyne’s last post is 3 months ago, and then Asylum e-mails us and says “I knew that mnemosyne was actually Ms. Samantha Bloom in Hamilton, Ontario, and here’s an obituary for Ms. Bloom. Please change her title to ‘deceased’”, how do we know that Asylum is not trying to be funny or else trying to get revenge for a nasty BBQ Pit comment that mnemosyne directed at him/her a long time ago?
Treat it like you would any moderatorial decision. Just like when you stickied the latest death announcement. If you’re 90% sure you’re right, take a leap of faith. If Edlyn tells you I died, you can bank on it. But if NewUserL33TDude does, you can shrug it off. Anything else is somewhere between.
Anybody who treated it like a joke or a personal revenge tool is definitively a jerk. They are jerks to start with, and likely are board troublemakers, so they need banning anyway.
Meanwhile, you’re doing a good thing by honoring members in good standing. No one (who isn’t a jerk) would hold it against you for erring on the side of trying to do something good.
Also, as a way to double-check you could just e-mail the poster who is supposed to be dead. If they respond then you know they’re not and someone’s pulling a joke. Granted, a lack of response may simply be due to an abandoned account, but it would still cut down on potential pranksters.
I can’t imagine how I’d react to receiving an email asking me if I was dead yet.
Well, are ya?
So poster Edlyn knows you in real life? That’s news to me. I don’t relish the though that I will have to start keeping track of the personal relationships of the posters on the board.
Yes. As a matter of fact I have been through a similar exercise just in the past few months. Poster A, who is no longer on the board, said something publicly on the boards a few months ago. Poster B, months later, posted something that directly contradicted what Poster A had said. We asked Poster B to explain the discrepancy, Poster B said “How can you not believe me? I am insulted that you would call me a liar.” There was no way of consulting Poster A. 20 e-mails flew back and forth with Poster B becoming more and more indignant that we would doubt his/her word. Not an experience I would want to repeat.
“Except that any Doper could then put the same thing in their location if they were so inclined .”
They could put that in any message or sig they write too. However, the board could also suspend anyone so they can’t post. Who would want to try that location field idea & no longer be able to post?