# What Happens to Your Online Self When You Die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 2, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191 "2004-07-02T06:24:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191/21 "2004-07-04T06:35:56Z")
I haven’t really made any concrete preparations for the fate of my online presence, but I have told my family to keep my several (huge) websites online after I am gone. I’ve archived these sites on CD (and while my CD-R organization is abysmal, I have no doubt that they’d eventually find a CD marked “WEB PAGE BACKUP.” My sites all pay for themselves through an association to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and other affiliates (actually, they _more_ than pay for themselves) so I won’t be inconveniencing anyone by requesting that they keep the sites going. (And even if the sites stopped paying for themselves, I have some semi-web-savvy relatives who could find a freebie host for the sites to reside.) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191/22 "2004-07-04T07:53:51Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > penis enlargers actually work . How do you know they don’t? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191/23 "2004-07-06T10:11:34Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Also on my current hard drive, there is a file named “In the event of my death.” Among other things, it contains a post, for the SDMB to let you all know that I am gone, and a request that my heirs (heir, in all practical reality) post it here in MPSIMS. > > Tris Who would you have look at your hard drive though? I am the only one who uses this computer. In the event of my untimely passing I would like somehow to have the entire hard drive self destruct. Perhaps an e-mail to a trusted friend asking them to notify certain communities to which I belong- although most would hardly give a toss anyway. Maybe it is just better to pass on into the night without touching anyone on the way. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191/24 "2004-07-06T12:42:22Z")
A few years ago Slashdot had a link to a site which was, in essence, a dead man switch. You signed up for the site, and if you didn’t log in for 2 weeks it would send an email to a list of people saying something might be wrong with you. The problem for me would be that I am a ditz, and would probably forget to check in and then cause a lot of undue problems because of it. It was an interesting idea and it caused me to ponder how to handle all my online appearances, but truth is, I haven’t done any preparation for it. I suppose I should, perhaps I’ll do that during class today - since I obviously won’t be paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191/25 "2004-07-06T12:43:53Z")
> [@ronincyberpunk](#): > > A few years ago Slashdot had a link to a site which was, in essence, a dead man switch. You signed up for the site, and if you didn’t log in for 2 weeks it would send an email to a list of people saying something might be wrong with you. Better phrased, I should say, if you didn’t log in every two weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-your-online-self-when-you-die/253191.md?page=1)