Re: what about death?

Danny Yee (danny@STAFF.CS.SU.OZ.AU)
Tue, 11 Jul 1995 14:16:51 +1000

Javier Wilson asked:
> What happens when a person of a community --virtual ~, pseudo~, whatever--
> (i.e. anthro-l) dies?

Much the same as when a member of a typical functional community
(say a chess club) dies. If they are well known, liked or respected,
memorial "services" (possibly real as well as virtual) may be held.

> How the rest of the community realize that he/she is dead?
> Do they care?

It depends on how involved in the community they were. If they
were only marginally involved, no one may find out and no one may
particularly care. Usually the discovery would be by friends who
are also members of the community in question, who would pass the
knowledge on. If no one in the community is in closer contact than
reading/replying to their posts (I am assuming a newsgroup or a mailing
list here), then the odd "Whatever happened to X?" question may never
get answered.

If I were to die, I would guess that one of my colleagues would go
through my account afterwards and notify all the people (and mailing
lists?) in my mail alias file.

> A. when he/she doesn't send and not even reply messages by --let's say--
> more than one month.
> So... he/she is virtually dead, or really dead. does it matter?
> is it the same for the community?

It depends how important they were to the community, and how close their
personal ties with other community members were.

Danny Yee, who unfortunately can't read Spanish.