

1000Memories (YC S10): The Internet Adds New Dimension to Grieving Process - Bretthuneycutt
http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_16278589?IADID=Search-www.siliconvalley.com-www.siliconvalley.com&nclick_check=1

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oscilloscope
I don't like the emphasis these companies place on "forever". To me, the
tragic part about death on the internet is how confusing and muddled the
_event_ of death is. We leave behind aliases and loose ends in several
different communities. We die in the middle of a rapidly accelerating digital
life process.

Facebook et al. will have to develop serious policies of death eventually.
Someday a third of their users will be dead-- someday the _majority_ of
Facebook users may be dead. I think there's space for a web service that lets
you compose your last words on these platforms, to be delivered
programmatically through APIs and other means in the event of your death. Last
emails, submissions, status updates, etc. A "Goodbye World" script, so to
speak. To depart deliberately, gracefully (or maybe, explosively!) from our
many virtual lives.

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Tycho
It's an interesting thought how mourners may want to continually visit the
webspace (Facebook page etc) of the deceased, while blocking it from the
broader public. Perhaps people will start consciously creating 'dead-space'
online to leave behind when they die. I imagine things like 2nd Life already
encountered this (I recall a moving story about a terminally ill mother who
left behind Harvest Moon presents for her kids, who didn't realize till later
cause they'd stopped playing the game), but it could go even further. It could
become a custom to create a sort of online world and fill it with things that
are quintessentially _you_ , and then after you die loved ones can access it
(and maybe interact) as a memorial.

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aquadoctorbob
Here's a link to the moving story you're thinking of:
[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/11/animalc...](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/11/animalcrossing.jpg)

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waderoush
That's a nice piece by the Merc -- glad they discovered you guys! Congrats
Brett. It's just too bad so many journalists start by default with the "how
this new thing is NOT Facebook" angle. I'm guilty of it myself, of course.

~~~
Bretthuneycutt
thanks, wade!

