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simplest friend test: remove your bday on facebook and count how many wishes you get on your next bday ; ) You don't have that many "friends" as you think you do.
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Google actually has a form of this, called Inactive Account Manager. You can pick an amount of time and who you want to control your information when you die (or go into a coma?). Pretty awesome, I set mine up already. https://www.google.com/settings/account/inactive
Your link seems to have some hidden chars at the end, which is why it's not working (for me, atleast). Here's the link without the extra chars - https://www.google.com/settings/account/inactive
As one of the older folks on HN, I can tell you that death in the age of facebook is strange in that even when they are gone there's still a "there-ness" to them thanks to left over accounts. Its almost like at any moment, a tweet will pop up or an update to a wall... Perhaps that's the 21st century version of seeing ghosts.
Thankfully on the Monday after she passed, one of her family members posted about her passing on her wall and many of her friends (myself included) shared condolences. Had it not been for FB and those messages, I may never have known.
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When my girlfriend died I could not bring myself to remove her from my friends list. She is still there. Her beautiful smile looks at me nearly every day. Some days I am glad to see that little profile picture of hers and others it is painful. Her family could have the account closed I guess but I think they feel the same as me and closing it is like deleting a little part of what we have left of her :(
This is probably one of the most profoundly sad things I've read in a while. I don't know you or your girlfriend but I truly feel sorry for your loss. I am fortunate to (so far) have not experienced the deaths of many loved ones. I could only imagine the range of emotions I would feel, especially with their virtual presence persisting after they pass.
Facebook still reminds me when it is her birthday (although I never forget anyway) and in a way I find it quite comforting to have an external reminder of her. It makes me feel while she has gone she is still here in some strange little ways. Nobody truly dies on the internet.
I would also like to say thank you to all those who have said such kind things in your replies.
[0] I hate that expression but it seems to be the only way to phrase it
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A story from a friend: His friend died and all of his accounts went silent along with some grieving notes. Then, a few months later, the deceased's account was compromised by a spammer. Posts from a spammer posing as a dead friend is about the worst kind of spam I can imagine.
I've seen this happen before as well. I wonder if it would help to have a mechanism that basically removes the user's ability to log in but preserves their data.
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Please understand that something you think is helpful may not be. You should assume it isn't unless you have specific knowledge of the person involved. In general, the bereaved don't need platitudes which cheapen their loss or try to fast-forward them through the grieving process. Don't presume to know what the deceased _or_ the bereaved feel or _should_ feel, and don't assume they share/d your beliefs. Instead of 'c…
Half agree with your post, but I can see why you are downvoted. To me, in grief, platitudes and comforting words seem like a useless distraction and annoyance, but I wouldn't then go on to suggest your way of being around the grieving is what everybody needs to be doing. He was being nice and wasn't hurting anybody doing it, and there isn't such a dearth of those posts that we need to attack them.
Keep it to yourself.
By the way, her words were something along to lines of "He's with God now, and that's the best thing in the world."
As one of the older folks on HN, I can tell you that death in the age of facebook is strange in that even when they are gone there's still a "there-ness" to them thanks to left over accounts. Its almost like at any moment, a tweet will pop up or an update to a wall... Perhaps that's the 21st century version of seeing ghosts.
A co-worker of mine from 10 years ago recently lost her battle with cancer. I hadn't talked to her in nearly decade, but we would Like each other's posts on FB occasionally. Thankfully on the Monday after she passed, one of her family members posted about her passing on her wall and many of her friends (myself included) shared condolences. Had it not been for FB and those messages, I may never have known.
It was triggered by the sudden death of one of the Well's prominent/prolific members, Blair Newman, which resulted in a lot of conversation about what happens to one's digital presence after death. In Blair's case, he had removed his content from the system and closed his account (as there were those who were bullying him) before his death. It was decided to restore the content (from backups) into a Memorial sub-conference for him not long after his death.
As one of the older folks on HN, I can tell you that death in the age of facebook is strange in that even when they are gone there's still a "there-ness" to them thanks to left over accounts. Its almost like at any moment, a tweet will pop up or an update to a wall... Perhaps that's the 21st century version of seeing ghosts.
When my girlfriend died I could not bring myself to remove her from my friends list. She is still there. Her beautiful smile looks at me nearly every day. Some days I am glad to see that little profile picture of hers and others it is painful. Her family could have the account closed I guess but I think they feel the same as me and closing it is like deleting a little part of what we have left of her :(