

Technorati's Tracy Williams is alive and safe in a local hospital - wijnglas
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=233810070014718&id=160644534031945

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AlexMuir
I haven't been able to read this status update (it keeps timing out for some
reason), so I'm just going off the title here. *

The downside of these hugely public, and permanent, appeals for information on
someone is that everyone will want to know every detail of what happened, will
discuss it, and dissect it publicly.

Imagine a situation where someone in our technology community quietly embarks
on a suicide plan, as many people do every day. Once the word has gone out and
a public search starts, there is an enormous pressure to go through with it
successfully. Knowing that you're going to step back into a shitstorm of
thousands of people asking what's happened. Which is going to encircle your
name for a long time, if not forever.

I'm not saying there's anything to learn from this - it's just something to
consider. I am in no way questioning the judgement of friends raising the
alarm. It's just that strangers will feel, rightly or wrongly, that having
read, and perhaps spread, an appeal that they are entitled to know the details
of the outcome.

* I have absolutely no idea what's happened in this case.

~~~
hellrich
Or if she fell victim to a crime - sadly more likely for a woman gone lost in
a bar.

~~~
cperciva
Or was in a car accident. Or had a heart attack. Or any number of other
possible events which would result in someone being unconscious and treated at
a hospital.

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blahedo
I don't really want to intrude on her life to ask just what happened---it's
not any of my business---but I _would_ like to know if, whatever did happen,
the technorati/HN/FB/etc publicity helped find/save/help her.

------
byoung2
From the Facebook comments:

Timothy Joseph: _Thank God! I'm so happy to hear this! What a great company to
have done this. I wonder if my employer would have done this for me._

That is an interesting question. If someone where I work (ClearChannel, owner
of over 850 radio stations, and dozens of high-profile websites like
RushLimbaugh.com and GlennBeck.com) went missing, I wonder what company
resources would/could be used to aid in a search effort.

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stevenp
Thank God. I'm not used to stories like this having this kind of ending, so
this is a welcome sigh of relief.

Seeing how her friends and coworkers cared enough to start a massive online
campaign to help find her reminded me of the importance of making connections
and having people in my life who are looking out for me.

~~~
cpt1138
God had nothing to do with it. Pretty sure of that

------
cldwalker
Not all missing people stories have a happy ending. I have a relative who's
been missing since Sept. 16, last seen in Riddle, Oregon. More info at
<http://findmark.org>. We recently realized that he had his iPad with him. If
you have any ideas on how we could use it to find him, I'm all ears.

~~~
michaelschade
I assume you've already checked this, but just in case you haven't: is Find My
iPad setup? If so, and if you can get access to his Apple account, then you
can track it that way.

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dusing
Thats great to hear. A little surprised it took 3 days to find her in a
hospital. Hope she is okay.

~~~
leftnode
She may have only just checked in recently.

~~~
codezero
I wondered myself why it would take so long to find someone in a hospital --
that she checked herself in recently makes a lot of sense.

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Hilyin
So what happened?

~~~
dsr_
While lots of us are nosy enough to want to know, the answer is that it isn't
any of our business. If she wants to say, she will... presumably after she
gets out of the hospital.

~~~
samstave
OMG EVERYBODY HALP!!! MY FRIEND IS MISSING.

[everybody attempts to help]

OMG EVERYBODY THAN KYOU SO MUCH MY FRIEND IS SAFE!!!

[everybody: YAY! Gald to hear it - what happened!]

NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS YOU NOSY JERKS!

\----

Yeah screw that. People will feel less inclined to assist - because they feel
that they are an excluded outsider. If you are not told the outcome/reason for
the situation in the first place - you are then further removed from the
person/situation in question. Thus, you will have less emotional tie with the
situation. Without any emotional tie - you will not help situations like this
in the future.

The call for help is highly emotional "Our friend, and trusted colleague, who
is a great and nice person is missing" -- you feel compassion here, as you
would hate togo missing yourself - and you know how great you are as a person.
So, you'll assist in this case through _empathy_.

Take that empathy away, and it gets worse for everyone.

~~~
mattdeboard
When someone asks for help, you either give it, or you don't. Your aid ought
not be contingent on what you get out of it.

~~~
ars
It shouldn't be. But it is. People want to get "paid" in information.

~~~
scott_s
Yes. And empathetic yet rational beings can then remind themselves that they
have no right and no need to have the information, and can quietly let it
pass.

~~~
ars
Of course. But they still want it.

A nice person would ask, but not press the point. A rare person would not even
ask. And some will demand to know.

~~~
scott_s
Some won't ask. We can't control the world, but we can influence this
community. And I think it would be nice if people here chose to be empathetic
and rational human beings.

------
jheriko
Its a nice story - when people don't show up for work I think the usual
attitude of the employer is to do nothing but blame the employee and penalise
them to the maximum extent possible. This is less true in the privileged roles
most web people have - but lets say you are 90% of the population who work in
manufacturing, service industries etc...

Just saying.

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MichaelApproved
Have any of these _all points bulletins_ for a missing person ever worked? I'm
not trying to be a smart ass, just curious if this method has been affective
in the past.

~~~
nobody3141592
The official ones seem pretty ineffective. A child went missing 300miles from
here a month ago, the freeway signs were all announcing an amber alert. But
the first thing the police in the next state - less than 10miles from his home
- knew about it was when it reached the national news, apparently only federal
crimes require contacting neighboring forces.

------
feralchimp
So glad to hear this news.

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solokumba
All this banter reminds me of... .../missy.html

glad she's safe

