Memorial badge for deceased members


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Hello,

DirtyLarry and Andrew G. have confirmed that a Neowin member, BeLGaRaTh, died last year. They only found out a few days ago.

Now there has been talks in that thread about making a memorial badge. Like many in that thread, I agree that maybe a memorial badge for confirmed deceased members would be nice.

There are GMs and SPs already talking about this with admins but I just wanted to make a thread to push the idea forward :)

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This may come across as harsh - I've yet to read through the other thread so I may be alone - but why?

We are a community, I appreciate that. We also note people of exceptional merit (see the MVC badge), as well as our two levels of subscribers. But a badge for the dead? I don't follow.

Let me try from another perspective. Let's say that I kick the bucket, would I want a special badge for it? Ultimately in my (living) mind I wouldn't care less, as I won't be reporting back in to the forum again. Regardless of your religious preference, you can agree that we don't get many ghosts wandering around here. ;)

Death is a sad thing, I agree. And as a community we come to learn about one another to various levels, occasionally becoming as close to a member as we are with our real life friends. But a badge for deceased members? I don't get it.

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^ this.

 

Also how does one verify that a member is deceased and not just offline for a long period of time?

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Hello,

This may come across as harsh - I've yet to read through the other thread so I may be alone - but why?

No, everyone's opinion is respectable I think :)

 

Let me try from another perspective. Let's say that I kick the bucket, would I want a special badge for it? Ultimately in my (living) mind I wouldn't care less, as I won't be reporting back in to the forum again. Regardless of your religious preference, you can agree that we don't get many ghosts wandering around here. ;)

Death is a sad thing, I agree. And as a community we come to learn about one another to various levels, occasionally becoming as close to a member as we are with our real life friends. But a badge for deceased members? I don't get it.

If you died, would you want your close family and friends to attend your funeral?

I think the general thought behind it is that there are a lot of Neowin friends on here (I suppose, personally I don't have any) and would like to set a Neowin memorial of thoughts for them.

Sitewise:

1: New graphic.

2: New group: No likes allowed to their posts.

3: The bandwidth will be min since as time pass, threads they have posted in will get older and older and no one will ever access them.

Also, some time ago, mods were encouraged to change from their screenname to their real name to appear more like a real person. This badge would also show that the member wasn't just a screenname; he was a real person that contributed to the forums.

 

Also how does one verify that a member is deceased and not just offline for a long period of time?

From that thread, I understand this is the only member confirmed deceased. There may be another.
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Maybe the main theme could turn black when we find out someone dies.  Also, how about a memorial thread that gets pinned to the main members forum?  Sort of like a wall listing the names of dead members.  Perhaps the site should shut down for a day as a mark of respect.

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^ this.

 

Also how does one verify that a member is deceased and not just offline for a long period of time?

By knowing the person's real name and finding their obituary online. I am not going to link to it out of respect for the family, but some of us did get to a point where we knew eachothers real names, where we lived, etc. Not all that hard.

 

As far as the badge itself, I see it is a sign of respect, just like the MVC badge, just like a subscriber badge, Mod badge, etc. Not everyone would get the badge, just like not everyone gets those badges (well except subscriber, any sucker with $10 can get it LOL) All it means is this person meant enough to the community overall that someone honors the fact they are no longer with us. Does it mean anything else at the end of the day? No, not really. There are already enough stupid badges for people's supposed status on the site, and I think it is just out of respect that this person meant enough for other members to know they were deceased. Obviously not all members are going to get this badge, only the members other members actually know. There will be plenty of loners who in fact die and no one ever knows. Life goes on there as well.  In theory once a member gets this badge, not to many other members would ever even see it. Only those who may or may not stumble upon their profile or posts.

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By knowing the person's real name and finding their obituary online. I am not going to link to it out of respect for the family, but some of us did get to a point where we knew eachothers real names, where we lived, etc. Not all that hard.

 

Uhm.. it would have been posted in the newspaper.. fro everyone to read.. also posted online for everyone to read.  I'm sure his family wouldn't just forget, and I am nearly certain the link to the obit wouldn't do anything to the family.. as it's already out there.   Just sayin'

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I could see closing the account so that people can not PM it, etc..  And some form of something that marks they are no longer active on the board makes sense, don't really want people PMing someone and thinking they just are not answering ;)
 
But I would think this should be automatic on any account that has not had activity in X number days.. If you have not logged into neowin in say 6 months, your account should be set as inactive - and profile should show that and PMs to that user would not be allowed and should see something to the effect that member is inactive like when you send a PM to mod user name is shows mod next to username.
 
To me an inactive marker of some form makes more sense than some sort of deceased badge.  While its true that some people know real life names of other members. This is going to be a given for such a large community - if those types of relationships have been formed they will know, and creating comment on the profile giving some details that person is no longer with us might be nice.. Not sure a "badge" is appropriate?  Nor should their death mean that it would be ok to make their real name public like a link to obituary.  Unless that user had made their real name public on the board - their passing does not mean they lost their right to privacy.
 
A bit offtopic - but this comment caught my eye, because I have a very strong opinion on this sort of remark.
 
"No, everyone's opinion is respectable I think :)"
 
That is worded completely wrong in my opinion ;)  should be worded like this
 
"Everyone has a right to their own opinion"
 
Just because you have an opinion about something, which everyone does has little to do with respect of it.  If your opinion is that the moon is made of cheese, there is no reason to respect that opinion.  You clearly have the right to that opinion -- but in what reality should it be respected?
 

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Uhm.. it would have been posted in the newspaper.. fro everyone to read.. also posted online for everyone to read.  I'm sure his family wouldn't just forget, and I am nearly certain the link to the obit wouldn't do anything to the family.. as it's already out there.   Just sayin'

Do you think the obituary said BeLGaRaTh died?? It said his real name, something not many members knew, so yeah sorry, just because he has passed away, do not see the reason everyone needs to know his actual name. He wanted his privacy in life, I will respect that in death. Not really that hard to figure out.

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As sad as a loss of any human life is, I think this sounds a little morbid.

 

My thoughts exactly.   I am sure friends and family have other ways to honour him, and a memorial badge is a bad idea IMHO.

 

But I would think this should be automatic on any account that has not had activity in X number days.. If you have not logged into neowin in say 6 months, your account should be set as inactive - and profile should show that and PMs to that user would not be allowed and should see something to the effect that member is inactive like when you send a PM to mod user name is shows mod next to username.

 

Good idea. Maybe accept the PM but have autoreply, saying that the member is inactive.

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Well, I am probably the most "senior" staff member here in terms of age, and I think that creating a badge is a worthwhile and honorable gesture. Bestowing it on a person who has died may be trickier, since they do not post anymore and, unless there is someone close to that person, we might never know. We must also make sure that we respect the family of the deceased member, which is another hard thing to do if we do not know them.

 

I still appreciate the gesture. It show compassion and empathy from our members.

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Hello,

Completely offtopic reply. Ignore if you want to talk about the main topic

"No, everyone's opinion is respectable I think :)"

 

That is worded completely wrong in my opinion ;)  should be worded like this

 

"Everyone has a right to their own opinion"

 

Just because you have an opinion about something, which everyone does has little to do with respect of it.  If your opinion is that the moon is made of cheese, there is no reason to respect that opinion.  You clearly have the right to that opinion -- but in what reality should it be respected?

Lets forget about the moon example for a second.

Lets say my opinion is that I get better wireless range when a AP is at the bottom of the floor. Your "opinion" is that it is better higher than the floor. I have no facts to back this up. Your facts are articles, books, etc. but most important and the one that makes your opinion correct: self experience, which would prove your opinion correct and my opinion false.

Back to the moon: Neither of us have stepped on the moon to claim it is or isnt made of cheese. We can base our claims on numerous articles or conspiracies but we have no self experience that it is or is not made of cheese.

This expands to jesus, aliens, etc. We have our opinions based on articles, books, etc. but we cannot 100% prove that it exists or not.

I do agree that my wording was incorrect:

"Everyone's opinion is respectable as long as it is accepted as a opinion"

I think that would be better

Back on topic...

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No still not right - but this is not the place for discussion of my off topic comment.  Be more than happy to discuss this via PM if you want where can be more free with wording and examples.

 

back to topic...

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As sad as it is, i dont think itd be nice to see gravestones under avatars - Again its not something that anyone could have tabs kept on , and again like this instance it could take up to a year for anyone to find out.

 

I doubt very much any members of the family would keep up to date with Neowin once they've passed and that person not being alive, they arent going to see it themselves anyway..

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