Comments on: User Not Found

User Not Found

pedantic — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 08:27:11 -0800

Online people die too. It would surely be a surprise if they didn't. Alas, how do we deal with real scenarios in virtual spaces? Dana J. Robinson is exploring death as it relates to this digital space.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:05:09 -0800

Personally, I'm on vacation.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:07:35 -0800

...that said (too quickly), I must say that it was a really touching article. Thank you.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:20:52 -0800

She should include bunnies and dogs in her study.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:21:18 -0800

Interesting article. A "death-check" system like the one soundofsuburbia linked to above seems like a real hassle, though. If I really wanted to make sure people knew it when I was gone, I'd just leave instructions with good friends or a lawyer to e-mail someone in particular or post at a certain site. (So the Cardososignal isn't the best way to go?)

By: languagehat

languagehat — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:25:22 -0800

Online people die too. Why, yes. Yes they do.

By: pedantic

pedantic — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:32:30 -0800

Touché, languagehat, touché.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 09:56:18 -0800

When I die, I plan to will my online persona to my heirs, and I hope they do the same. It's my own little slice of immortality.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 10:01:44 -0800

But then how do we know you haven't died already?

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 10:03:49 -0800

Paging Doctor Boisselier...

By: Pancake Overlord

Pancake Overlord — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 10:04:44 -0800

He's the Dread Pirate Roberts of the Internet!

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 10:07:00 -0800

I was very shocked and saddened last year when photojournalist Raffaele Cieriello was gunned down in Ramallah last March while on assignment. I had often visited his site Postcards from Hell. His family keeps the site up in tribute, and on the front page is the video clip shot seconds before his death. It was discussed in Mefi at the time. Sometimes sites that were well maintained for years just stop and you have no way of knowing what happened. For example, does anyone know what happened to Raphael Carter's Honeyguide? His was one of the early blogs I began following in 1998, and then it just stopped last year. No replies to an e-mail query, but popular bloggers don't necessarily answer all e-mail. Did he move on to other things? Curious the attachment you make to people with online sites even though you may not really know them at all - an issue that will only continue as the web ages.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 10:08:06 -0800

Okay then, what about if *just* someone's online persona dies, like if someone decides their reputation is damaged beyond repair or they can no longer maintain a personality online for whatever reason (financial, personal, legal, whatever), and they decide to permanently retire their online selves? Or what if someone gets "caught" the way Kaycee did? These are all deaths too, aren't they? Friends of that "person" still have to deal with that loss. Just because you never saw them doesn't mean they didn't occupy a space in your life. This is a great idea.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 10:30:35 -0800

"...how do we know you haven't died already?" That's the beauty of it. I've been dead since 1873.

By: pedantic

pedantic — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 11:29:27 -0800

I've also always thought AfterLife.org is a great idea. But like Honeyguide, it seems to be a simple headstone of what was.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 11:49:22 -0800

Madam: I've been wondering the same thing about Carter. I ran across an essay he wrote about hummingbird poems in which he said he could only find three; I figured there must be more, so I did a little research and blogged it. Readers kept adding more in my comments section, and I sent Carter two messages telling him about this wealth of hummingbirdery but never heard back. Let me know if you find out anything, OK?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:07:40 -0800

there are no virtual spaces. there is no cyberspace. when online people die, they stop typing back to you.

By: maybeiam

maybeiam — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 13:30:46 -0800

i created user not found with hopes of starting dialogue about this fairly new and increasingly relevant topic. fortunately, it's worked, and people are blogging about their stories. unfortunately, they're largely blogging on their own sites and not in the comments section at the site, so it's been hard for me to collect everything that's being discussed. also..re: chicobangs' comment...oddly enough i just posted a story today about hoaxes. when people lie about their identity and how that impacts the people who were close with the false identity. i suspect that one will hit home with a lot of people since so many people were involved with the kaycee nicole fiasco.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 13:55:27 -0800

User Not Found is a weblog devoted to the discussion of dealing with the death of online friends. This makes me somewhat ill at a conceptual level. Perhaps its the thought that we're so squishy: "Still, we shared a common passion and a common way of expressing it, and because of that I genuinely feel a sense of loss." This, out of context, sounds reasonable, but its about someone's web content. Did you know them? Were they a nice person? Was their online persona even -real-? I think the world has more than enough empty sentiment without adding more.

By: Captain_Tenille

Captain_Tenille — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 14:30:38 -0800

I'm not dead, but my nicksakes' careers are... Which is too bad, even though I can't stand their music. I was hoping to get a picture of myself with them next time they swung through my neck of the woods. Alas.

By: pedantic

pedantic — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 15:20:27 -0800

This makes me somewhat ill at a conceptual level. I can understand uneasiness around death since it is something that seems final (insert your dogma), however, it is the only sure thing. Taxes, heh, not according to some of our infomercial friends. This, out of context, sounds reasonable, but its about someone's web content. Is it? If you merely read a site, they aren't a friend. It is like reading a book. You don't know the author. I think what Dana is getting at are people you meet through the Internet, possibly email, possibly chat, possibly phone and possibly meet in real life. Even then, your relationship is still 99% online.

By: tio2d

tio2d — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 18:01:35 -0800

There is a young adult book, "The gospel according to Larry", by Janet Tashjian , Holt, 2001, where she explores what happens when a kid becomes famous on the web, then gets "outed" in his real identity and how it destroys a lot of things. An interesting read and it seems to fit with this thread.

By: realjanetkagan

realjanetkagan — Tue, 14 Jan 2003 23:32:05 -0800

madamjjj and languagehat: Yeah, Raphael Carter's ignoring his weblog and his e-mail.... I assumed he'd holed himself up to work on a slew of short stories or a new novel. (A lot of us do.) As much as I miss the HoneyGuide links, I'd MUCH rather read a new Raphael Carter story or a new Raphael Carter novel! As far as I know, Raphael's just hermitting. Cross your fingers we get some good NEW stuff to read out of HoneyGuide's hiatus. That said... Yeah, I miss the beautiful bug pictures too. *sigh* Can't have everything.

By: Opus Dark

Opus Dark — Wed, 15 Jan 2003 00:00:10 -0800

I surf dead people.