Obituary section

[Win]

I've just been thinking. Would it be a good idea to have an obituary section for monks that have sadly passed away? People could be encouraged to keep an address so that relatives would know where to send details of the death. Perlmonks could send on sympathy cards and place a positive obituary detailing interesting nodes etc. Perhaps even representatives could be sent to funerals etc.

Update: I'm not suggesting that people have access to addresses. The family would have to contact Perlmonks and so the family would need a PerlMonks address or email details.

[Tanktalus]

Perhaps I read into this wrong, Win, but I got the impression that you are not suggesting that Perlmonks keeps our addresses and such, but that individual monks keep them. I am assuming here, then, that you intend for friends to keep each others' addresses, and/or that monks should be encouraged to put perlmonks.org in their address list near their will such that their family/executor would find it and post the obituary (possibly via email) to Perlmonks.

As such, I see no opportunity for spamming (since jeffa wouldn't send his address to you, nor would he send his address to anyone he didn't feel he could trust not to give it to you).

That said, I have little reason to believe that this would "work". I'm sure there are many people here who have each others' personal email addresses. I'm not sure whether family/executors look at such lists for notification consistently, and when they do, I'm not sure whether said friend would post it here. If they do, however, I imagine this would fit under Perl News just fine (I could see a debate about whether it'd be Perl News or Perlmonks Discussion, but I doubt that many would argue at the time).

As for representatives sent to funerals, perhaps that's normal in your culture, but I'm sure most people in N. America would find it somewhat awkward if they had never met the deceased face-to-face prior to the funeral (and thus a likely source of downvotes: "-- (ooo, icky!)"; another source, of course, is any suggestion for a new section).

[jdporter]

I think that, at essence, this is not a bad idea. Probably what I'd do (if I were king, which I'm not) is to:

1. Insert some kind of marker in the homenode of a passed-on monk, indicating same; and
2. Maintain a simple "In Memoriam" listing page (similar in structure to SIOB) linking to those homenodes.
Anything more than that would, IMHO, be beyond the prerogative of PerlMonks, Inc.

However — Be it noted that a eulogistic Perl News item could be posted by any one of us who happens to receive sad news of this sort. I think that would be appropriate. A separate section is definitely not in order.

Update: Please see PerlMonks Memorial Garden.

[Tanktalus]

Seeing as this thread was started at exactly the right (wrong?) time, probably within 24-48 hours of blazar's passing, I would like to reiterate, in the proper thread, my support for jdporter's suggestions. That is, official PM policy to insert a marker in the homenode of a passed-on monk, with a link to any Perl News (or Meditation or whatever) node with the announcement of the death. And, further PM policy to do no more than that.

What say the gods?

Update: Let's say someone DOES try a hoax. Say they perpetrate the hoax that I die. Nevermind the cheers :-P When I arrive back, I can fix it. If I perpetrate my own fake death, well, really, the community will write me off anyway (well, the ones who haven't already, I mean). To be honest, I don't see a lot of hoaxes being perpetrated here, and even those that do can be corrected by the not-actually-deceased easily enough: respond to the incorrect news item (which was linked from their homenode), and remove the notation the gods put there. And the originator of the hoax will definitely be ostracised. The only hoaxes we see around here are April-first jokes, and I doubt anyone would actually stoop that low for a "joke".

[koolgirl]

I agree with Tanktalus, and support jdporter's suggestions as well. I didn't know blazar very well, and haven't been on the site much lately, so Tanktalus's comment was the first I had found of his passing. This is very sad to me :(, and I think that a simple posting of a notice about the Monk's passing, and a In Memoriam page would be a good idea and a nice way to allow the fellow monks of the deceased, who maybe weren't close enough to have information such as a home address and the like, but who nonetheless had a friendship with the deceased monk and wished to show their sympathies, to do so in a simple manner.

Also, just as a respect issue, this would be a good idea, (jdporter's suggestions I'm referring to here), so that we would be aware, because no one wants to un-knowingly make a comment about someone in jest, only to find out that person is recently deceased and close grieving friends are a bit offended.

++jdporter, and Tanktalus

Of course this may be the wrong time or place, but I was quite saddened to hear of blazar's passing, and offer my sympathies to his family, and the Monks here who were close with him :(

[JavaFan]

Let's say someone DOES try a hoax. Say they perpetrate the hoax that I die. Nevermind the cheers :-P When I arrive back, I can fix it.

Well, in theory, it would be possible someone hoaxes (look ma, I just verbed a noun!) the death of a retired monk (someone who posted a lot in the past, but no longer visits this site). 10% of the top-100 saints haven't been around for a year or longer, so if someone hoaxes their death, it's unlikely to be fixed by said monk themselves anytime soon.

Not that I think this is a serious problem.

[rir]

I'm not numbered in the gods.

In principle, the idea sounds fine; in practice, it seems difficult to avoid endorsing a hoax.

Be well,
rir

[Zen]

I agree with a home node mention/link. It's respectful to the deceased, who in this case gave back to the community plenty.

[CountZero]

Definitely no.

Then we would need a section for births, marriages, divorces, ... as well.

Such things are best announced in the CB, which is as ephemeral as life and death itself.

[swampyankee]

I have no objection to an obituary section, in principle, as they are not uncommon in many web contexts, such as some professional organizations. Certainly, if one of the better known monks were to die, a death notice would be posted here, as was done with Mr Ing-Simmons.

[Lawliet]

When I first saw the OP title I thought of an obituary section for nodes that the NodeReaper has taken. The idea that I saw when reading the OP was not much better ;D. Not just because of who posted it, (I have not been in PM long enough to witness many trolls), but because I think it is completely inappropriate for a discussion board about Perl.

[ikegami]

Nodes that the NodeReaper has taken

[talexb]

I approved this node just so a few more people could read it and respond. I didn't downvote the node, but my response is a firm and unwavering 'no'.

[jeffa]

Keep an address? No thanks! I appreciate the future sympathy but no one BUT my relatives and friends need know my address. Your history here at Perlmonks is suspect at best, Win. I would not put it past you to be a spammer looking for addresses. I just can't be as naively optimistic as Tanktalus to assume otherwise.

[Aim9b]

I'd suggest my death (hoaxed or otherwise) should be handled similar to my organ donation wishes. My family knows my wishes & will act acordingly. I don't know enough monks here yet to call it a real issue, but I'd hope, over the years (I have left) to meet a few. And in preparation, have added PM to my LOLE ("list of loose ends") that my wife or daughter will deal with. I use 3 rotating files, updated monthly. Currently they're on jump drives & sd cards.

This journal, protected, but complete with ID & Password, has all the clubs, forums, user groups, web sites, blood banks, bars, investment houses, etc. that "might care" to know what happened. Then each of these organizations can post, laugh, grieve, or whatever seems appropriate. Just something I've done since before the war, since if you wait till it's needed, it's too late.

Overkill? Maybe. I guess only time will tell. ;-)

[linuxer]

Just to make it short: No, no good idea, imho.

[Anomynous Monk]

And another section for monks that have passed away while happy?

[jonnyfolk]

Since I have had it on fairly good authority that I am never going to die, I don't think that this will affect me personally.

However I am happy to go along with whatever the good mortal monks decide...