A netwise guide on the death of a friend

The Grey Slayer rides the Internet, as in real life. Odd thing, death (or DEATH, if YKWIM) — it comes to us all but, mostly, we avoid discussing it. Or is that just Brits? … or, just me?

I was saddened to hear that another good friend beat me to the end-game yesterday. I phoned his wife to offer my condolences, and my assistance, as one does, not really knowing what else to do (see previous comment re: avoidance). But on waking this morning, I realised that there was perhaps something I could do.

So, Sue, this is for you, in memoriam of my pal Graham. Not much of a tribute, but perhaps it may help a little.

Digg

I can’t find any relevant information on Digg’s help & FAQ page. I wrote to them, using their contact form:

> I'm trying to help a friend whose husband has just passed away - I'm
> looking for information on your website 'how do I report a deceased
> digg user', but I'm not having any luck. Can you help?

The response was:

Hello from Digg,

Unfortunately we are unable to disclose personal information of other
users on the site.

-Digg Support

Clearly, reading comprehension isn’t highly rated at Digg.

Facebook

Report a deceased user to Facebook

LinkedIn

LinkedIn – Verification of death

Notes:

• The LinkedIn verification of death form “requires an email address registered to the deceased member’s account” and cannot be processed by LinkedIn without that.
• The current version of the form is in MS-Word format and appears to employ functionality required by it. Hard copy print and fax still has a place.

Twitter

Twitter advice on the death of a tweeter

I’m just scratching the surface, here. Who keeps a list of all the social websites they use? (Well, I do, that’s true: but the list is in my password safe, and you’d have to crack my master password — good luck with that — to get access to the list of people to inform when I kick the bucket.)

Am I reinventing the wheel, here? The information I’ve found and presented here may be good today, but you can bet your bottom dollar it’s all gonna change. Surely someone must already maintain a resource like this — someone who has the necessary fortune to finance what is, after all, an ongoing proposition (coz believe it or not, we are going to die, all of us). Someone with a few bob to spare, oh, I dunno, like, let’s say, oh, Bill Gates (full of foresight, that fellah Bill, deserves his billions, totally. Not! OK, Graham, sorry, I’ll shut up now /rant).

If anyone knows of the kind of ‘help your buddies out when their friends snuff it’ resource I’m waffling about, I’d appreciate a link to it. In the meantime, I plan to come back and update this with more information from time to time.

As the first clip made reference to notLoB, I think it’s appropriate to end with LoB: