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If you've really lived on the Internet — in other words, if a good deal of your formative social interactions have been experienced online — then one day you will inevitably "die" on the Internet. As it stands now, it seems that it would be way too easy for friends to "disappear" without a trace, never to be heard from again. This would not be acceptable in "real life," so why here?
This is morbid, but I've been thinking about it a lot, and I turn to you for guidance.
While we may not like to acknowledge it, we who live on Newsvine will also die on Newsvine, and I think we ought to make a concerted effort sooner rather than later to address this. There will undoubtedly come a day when someone here whose stories we look forward to on a regular basis mysteriously stops posting with no prior warning.
How do we account for that here or in any other web community in which we are an active member? Considering the ways in which I exist as a social being in various communities on the web (Newsvine being the most intimate for me), I'd imagine that social relationships online will only become stronger as we grow older, especially as newer technology continues to bridge the gap between real and virtual. The friendships here are real and meaningful, which means loss here would have the potential to be painful and devastating.
Means of coping with the deaths of members have emerged from other social communities. Over at Facebook.com, members are often memorialized through the "wall" feature on that site:
When KU senior Nicole Bingham of Wichita died Oct. 7 in the fire at the Boardwalk Apartments, friends across the country immediately started writing on her "wall," the place on students' Facebook profile pages where users can post comments. Within days, the page turned into a living memorial for her. (source)
The web site MyDeathSpace.com generated a good deal of criticism in 2006 when it began linking deceased member's profile pages with their actual obituaries. The site often makes light of the MySpace deaths and in no way should serve as an example, but I think we ought to consider how we should handle this issue. To ignore it would be a mistake.
Our community is still young. Let's take the steps today — as morbid and depressing as they may be — to ensure that as we grow old here and eventually pass on, we have a method for recognizing the lives that were lived out on The Vine. Given the fact that many of us post to our respective communities without other "real" friends or families members knowing it, we need to devise a solution that will account for this possibility.
What are your thoughts? How can we devise a system for Newsvine that will ensure that when we lose a member, he or she is properly mourned? Let's put our organizational skills to use — if we can develop a system for orchestrating a worldwide online drinking contest, surely we can tackle this issue constructively.
