Social Media and Death: What is your plan?

Platapus · 07-03-16, 01:43 PM

This discussion would have been inappropriate in the Mush Martin thread, but in reading that thread, it did raise a question for me.

As social media presence becomes more common and in many case important to people, what can/should happen when a person dies?

Many people might like to have such notices as we had concerning Mush Martin. To some it may be much better than just having a member not posting any more.

But with computers being locked and websites having separate passwords, plans need to be made concerning a person's posthumous presence.

So that actually raises two separate questions

1. Do you want any type of announcement on your social media about your death?

2. Do you have a plan where a trusted person would have the necessary information to be able to make such an announcement?

I wonder how many of us have actually discussed this topic with their "life partner" (how ever that is defined these days)?

I can imagine this might be an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but for some it may be important.

Platapus · 07-03-16, 01:45 PM

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Betonov · 07-03-16, 02:17 PM

Thought about it but never carried trough any plan.

I guess the 2 best options for subsim are

1) leave contacts in my last testament to Oberon, HunterICX or Jimbuna and they will relay the word

2) after meeting that someone special, introduce them to either Jammie, Wim or Jim and she will contact them afterwards

Regarding Facebook, to hell with it. Let my profile slide into oblivion.
Anyone I still have in my contacts there will find out via more personal means.
Those I don't care about are long gone from my friends list.

Oberon · 07-03-16, 02:52 PM

I stumbled across this the other day when reading a book by the guy who does the XKCD comics ('What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Randall Munroe) and someone asked when the time would come that dead facebook profiles would outnumber living ones.
I think that as we continue with social media and develop more advanced forms of it, the people that design and operate it are going to have to have to develop plans on how to deal with deceased members. For example, should a dead person have their page closed so no-one can comment on it? Thus preventing trolls and spambots from cluttering up their page since they're not around to stop it. Or should their page become a memorial where people can share their thoughts and memories about the deceased, and if so then who maintains the page to stop malicious and/or spam posts? A next of kin or a designated volunteer user?
I had a thought and went to facebook to a friends page who I know died a few weeks back, it's currently being looked after by his other half, although I'm not sure if she has actual user access to the page or whether she's just posting across onto it.

Of course, at some point in the future the question arises that if we leave a big enough digital footprint that rudimentary programs may be able to create a form of AI that mimicks the deceased, allowing some form of continued interaction...although to be honest, it's hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing, especially when you extrapolate technology from there and go into cloning and/or android copy with cranial information transfer. That's probably beyond our lifetimes though, something for the next generation to think about...probably.

Mittelwaechter · 07-03-16, 05:22 PM

To care about the dead is something for the living. So I let them do what they are after.

Aktungbby · 07-03-16, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Not to worry ol' chum!

When you R finally 'down under'...well...uh...U will be reported down under ...uh... soda speke

http://www.platypus.asn.au/reporting.html

Quote:

If you have ever seen a platypus in the wild (either alive or dead), you possess information that is vital to our understanding of the status, distribution and conservation needs of the species. Therefore, please consider reporting the details of your sighting(s) to the Australian Platypus Conservancy.

I understand my long suffering spouse is going to deposit my ashes ceremoniously in a favorite stream on the isle of Kauai where I will undoubtedly wash into a nearby taro farm...one could...uh...say I'm POIsed on the brink of eternity!

d@rk51d3 · 07-04-16, 03:12 AM

.............and don't come to my funeral, 'coz I won't be going to yours.

Jimbuna · 07-04-16, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

I feel pretty similar and short of a sudden unexpected death, more in the way of something expected I think I'd leave instructions and a set of contact details for my lad to notify those I would want informing.

Hopefully that is a long way off though.

Catfish · 07-04-16, 07:29 AM

I plan to delete the internet, one day before i die.

Aktungbby · 07-04-16, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catfish

I plan to delete the internet, one day before i die.

NO NO! only leave your friend's list with one avatar...

so they' know which way your headed outta town compádre!

Catfish · 07-05-16, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

NO NO! only leave your friend's list with one avatar...

so they' know which way your headed outta town compádre!

Hey i never was an angel, not even a fallen one

Admiral Halsey · 07-04-16, 07:30 AM

Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol.

Skybird · 07-04-16, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey

Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol.

He will return as the Flying Texasman in a rocket-driven submarine. I only hope he does not sing a libretto.

Commander Wallace · 07-04-16, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I feel pretty similar and short of a sudden unexpected death, more in the way of something expected I think I'd leave instructions and a set of contact details for my lad to notify those I would want informing.

Hopefully that is a long way off though.

I feel pretty much the same way. The only difference Platapus is the fact that people here would want to know and as Jim said, would probably leave a way to notify people. That's just a courtesy I think. It doesn't need to be anything elaborate. It could be something like this.

" Joe was here but now he's gone. He left his name to carry on. Those who knew him, knew him well. Those who didn't can go to " ........
You get the picture

Seriously, a large number of people in the entertainment industry have been lost this year. It's somewhat odd that we grieve them, having never met them for the most part. I'm guessing that's because in a large way, these musicians have in our own mind, wrote the soundtrack and anthems to our own lives and struggles. We tend to connect personal events in our lives to songs and the artists who wrote and performed them.

In various ways, we feel we know these musicians even though we didn't because we connected with their music and the messages they conveyed through their songs.

I know that's a personal thing most musicians work hard to get through to their listeners and it's gratifying if they have. Their music tends to live on long after they are gone and is a legacy which time only serves to make more endearing. For musicians, it doesn't get any better than to be remembered that way.

Onkel Neal · 07-04-16, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey

Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol.

I have a plan for that.

07-03-16, 01:43 PM	#1
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,362 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	Social Media and Death: What is your plan? This discussion would have been inappropriate in the Mush Martin thread, but in reading that thread, it did raise a question for me. As social media presence becomes more common and in many case important to people, what can/should happen when a person dies? Many people might like to have such notices as we had concerning Mush Martin. To some it may be much better than just having a member not posting any more. But with computers being locked and websites having separate passwords, plans need to be made concerning a person's posthumous presence. So that actually raises two separate questions 1. Do you want any type of announcement on your social media about your death? 2. Do you have a plan where a trusted person would have the necessary information to be able to make such an announcement? I wonder how many of us have actually discussed this topic with their "life partner" (how ever that is defined these days)? I can imagine this might be an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but for some it may be important. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-03-16, 01:45 PM	#2
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,362 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it. I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off. This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-03-16, 05:22 PM	#5
Mittelwaechter The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 1,304 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	To care about the dead is something for the living. So I let them do what they are after. __________________ 10 happy wolves rear 90 blinded, ensnared sheep. 90 happy sheep banish the wolves. Arrest the 1% - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ6hg1oNeGE

07-04-16, 07:29 AM	#9
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,766 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	I plan to delete the internet, one day before i die. __________________ >^..^<*)))>{ All generalizations are wrong.

07-04-16, 07:30 AM	#12
Admiral Halsey Best Admiral in the USN Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: USS Enterprise (CV-6) Posts: 1,740 Downloads: 317 Uploads: 0	Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol. __________________ "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years" - Ferdinand Foch on the Treaty of Versailles.(Boy was he ever right.)

07-03-16, 02:17 PM	#3
Betonov Navy Seal Join Date: May 2009 Location: Slovenia Posts: 8,647 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	Thought about it but never carried trough any plan. I guess the 2 best options for subsim are 1) leave contacts in my last testament to Oberon, HunterICX or Jimbuna and they will relay the word 2) after meeting that someone special, introduce them to either Jammie, Wim or Jim and she will contact them afterwards Regarding Facebook, to hell with it. Let my profile slide into oblivion. Anyone I still have in my contacts there will find out via more personal means. Those I don't care about are long gone from my friends list.

07-03-16, 02:52 PM	#4
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	I stumbled across this the other day when reading a book by the guy who does the XKCD comics ('What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Randall Munroe) and someone asked when the time would come that dead facebook profiles would outnumber living ones. I think that as we continue with social media and develop more advanced forms of it, the people that design and operate it are going to have to have to develop plans on how to deal with deceased members. For example, should a dead person have their page closed so no-one can comment on it? Thus preventing trolls and spambots from cluttering up their page since they're not around to stop it. Or should their page become a memorial where people can share their thoughts and memories about the deceased, and if so then who maintains the page to stop malicious and/or spam posts? A next of kin or a designated volunteer user? I had a thought and went to facebook to a friends page who I know died a few weeks back, it's currently being looked after by his other half, although I'm not sure if she has actual user access to the page or whether she's just posting across onto it. Of course, at some point in the future the question arises that if we leave a big enough digital footprint that rudimentary programs may be able to create a form of AI that mimicks the deceased, allowing some form of continued interaction...although to be honest, it's hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing, especially when you extrapolate technology from there and go into cloning and/or android copy with cranial information transfer. That's probably beyond our lifetimes though, something for the next generation to think about...probably.

07-04-16, 03:12 AM	#7
d@rk51d3 Sea Lord Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 1,951 Downloads: 207 Uploads: 0	.............and don't come to my funeral, 'coz I won't be going to yours.