I didn't forget, I just... didn't really know what to say.

Though having said that, sitting down to write this now brought an old thought back to me, and one that's plagued my mind on and off for about two years now. How are you supposed to tell your internet friends that you're dead? I mean, I know some people's names, but not much more, and nobody else I know does. I mean, for all I know, it might well have happened already! I used to talk to people back when MLP writers still used fanfiction.net (I honestly remember hearing tell of this new 'fimfic' site and thinking 'man, who will ever use that? It lacks the professionalism and standing to threaten fanfic! But, here I am...) who just dropped off the face of the earth one day and no message I've ever sent them has prompted a response. Now, they probably just lost interest in the fandom, but I'm just paranoid enough to assume the worst case scenario at every step. So, here's my question to you: Do you have any plans for an unfortunate eventuality in which you won't be able to use the internet anymore, either through sickness, bad luck or worse?

Personally, I've thought of putting instructions into my will, if ever I write one. All my passwords, and strict steps to follow (Post this here, upload these files, delete these folders without EVER opening them, message these friends saying this, etc.) Before getting them to completely wipe my hard-drive or something.

Anyway, sorry for the depressing talk. Not sure what brought that about. Guess I just didn't really have much else to fill the space with...

Regardless, hope all you guys n' gals have a great week, and I hope to see you on the weekend (Though I've got another party, so we'll just have to see how I feel on the Sunday...)

Comments

[Wireframe]

I think I read about a service somewhere a while ago that would take care of the online connections should such an eventuality come to occur. I think it was centered around World of warcraft primarily back then, but don't quite know how it'd work exactly. I guess they'd have all the contact information to your online friends and then they'd have to be contacted by family when the time comes? It would seem more efficient than a system where you have to click a link or sign in once every month or so before, or your friends will be notified of your passing, whether true or not.

I have to be honest and say that I've not really given it a lot of thought before. It's something that feels far removed, as in that's not likely to happen to any of my friends or me. Not something to expect somehow. A silly, potentially naive thought given that it's not something one can generally really control.

Most of my closest friendships exist primarily online and with most living in other countries or on the other side of the world, I'm not likely to ever meet them in person. They're also friendships I tend to not talk about with the offline world or at least not to the extend of mentioning usernames or the sites I use to interact with them.

With more and more of our lives taking place online without relatives really knowing about the exact details or meeting the friends you have and address books being password protected, I reckon the only solution really is to indeed add some pointers to a will or keep an analogue list of friends and contact details to notify. I would have to think very carefully on how much access I'd want to give to my family to my computer or email. The digital life I lead is unknown to the offline world and I don't know how much I'd want that to potentially change a family member's perception of me. Though I guess that wouldn't be that much of a concern to dead me in the end.
It's something to seriously start considering.

It's sad though if the reason for losing contact with friends is something as simple as losing interest in a fandom. Sure a website might not get frequented as much as before, but if you've had a great time interacting with a friend in said fandom, a friendship doesn't have to limited to it, though it potentially being the only channel for communication with said friend could complicate matters on that part.

As much as you want to convince us you're not like that, you've been quite the party animal of late ^^

Break's over. Take Care ^^