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| www.doom2.net/toke/, .../thunder/, .../noskill/ [*] |
Memorial sites about the users of some Internet communities are not a new thing. A couple of years ago (in the 20th century though...) the most convenient way to commemorate someone on the Internet was to make a simple web page with a few last words about the deceased. I found an interesting example of a community of the Doom game players.
The game itself is old enough to have a solid and numerous community of players. The members of that community were growing old together with the game. At the beginning young fans of the game were experiencing all the aspects of real life over that time, as well as the unavoidable aspect – death. Some of them passed away and their friends built special websites to commemorate them
That was an example of somehow old fashioned way, today another custom is more likely to be observed. As almost everyone is using some social networking service, friends or the family are changing the profiles of the deceased to “in Memoriam” pages (you're probably also familiar with the [*] - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%5B%2A%5D&defid=4829973 ).
The problem with access to your e-mail, IM or social account after your death is that not every company wants to hand over the credentials even to the closest family. So in most cases when nobody else but the user knows the passwords to the Internet profiles, they remain active for months or even years... What can be sad and unpleasant for the nearest and dearest.
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| Legacylocker.com, Zostawslad.com |
That's how we get closer to the idea of the digital testament. There's a couple of services allowing its' users to store their most important passwords, documents or images in one place just in case they die. The first internatioal service was the Legacylocker.com. The Polish equivalent also came to life quickly and is called Zostawslad.pl. These are special services with designed procedures of handing your digital propety to your friends or family. Zostawslad.pl for instance expects the user to log in periodically or else the procedure of death confirmation is launched and the passwords, credentials, documents are handed to the closest chosen people...
The virtual graveyard or cemetery is also not a new invention. The polish service called WirtualnyCmentarz.pl offers a simple memorial pages on their website. But would you really want to light “virtual candles” on the virtual graves of your friends or family? Especially when that Virtual Graveyard offers a digital place to rest for your pets as well... Just next to the memorial pages for the humans.
Not only our lives but our deaths also are becoming digital. Every day the bond between the real life and cyberspace is getting stronger... But are all those services just a fruit of commercial thinking or maybe the vision of the future? Are we ready to live and die on the Internet? Or does this just disgust you?
Somehow I feel disgusted with virtual graveyard. I wouldn't like to be there or 'light a candle'. It's so... fake. We can't do everything by clicking our mouse! But I can see we are almost ready to do that. We can buy stuff, grocery, books, everything via internet, we can pay bills, order mechanic, study or even work via internet. We can connect with people using cameras and communicators. What we need more to "live"? So if we can live having only internet, we can also born here and die. In sad theory. I don't like that solution. I like to live outside the net. Considering all of this remembered me not so old movie "Tron Legacy".
ReplyDeleteI think we are not sure but do we need to be prepared for this? Do we have to "die" in the internet? I mean, ok - disable important accounts, give pass to family and the end. Nothing more. We have enough problems with dying on real world to have the second world to take care.
It really disgust me!!! It is horrible how in our common world poeple wants to earn on someone death. Showing death via Internet give this unnormal peoples I think certain kind of fulfillment. Internet is the part of our lives but I think that in moment of our death everything is ending even Internet and we should go to heaven without any Internet's adventure. Anyway I think that this 3 presentation about death are strange and hard to say anything wise on this topics. For me death is the end of everything and with moment of the end our earth's tarvel should be ended and our family should pray for us to the God.
ReplyDeleteWell, you are partly right Artus, death is the end of everything, but for us. Remember that there are also people who stay alive - our family, who really suffer due to our death. Moreover they don't have the "luxury" to only sit and cry above us. They have resposibility and duties to prepare proper funeral, to fisnish all issues with offices and all things we were taking care of. Part of it is our virtual life which we leave them too, and they have to do something with it. To close the issue somehow. So just as there is law with ascending f.e. home then we shoulkd consider what to do with virtual property. It's quite new phenomen so we can feel lost but I guess the thing must be done.So I belive wise thoughts and solutions are posiible here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with villemo. I think this way of thinking in advance about the end of our time is a sign of our reliability and maturity.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that my presentations might have released bad emotions about some of you. That was not the aim of my work. I wanted to raise the discussion... and I think we've got one already :)
I agree with villemo, it's diggust me.. And for what is virtual cementery or graveyard? it a bad way to earn money on people or animals death.. And buying virtual candles or flowers.. as I said before it only pick-up money from the people in mourning. At real life they spent a lot of money to the grave, coffin, prayer, priest, and annual or monthly payment of the grave. So why spend extra money on "virtual cementery/graveyard"? :/
ReplyDeleteAt youtube I saw many videos which people did for memory of deceased. I don't know what to say.. on the one hand, it is one of the ways of expressing mourning, but on the other hand .. deceased would looked at it, the fact is shown that they remember, but.. they cannot watch. For me the better way is remember deceased for forever and keep memories of them in our hearts. This is all.
The way, how people live with their online profiles is bound to cause them to "die" together. Most people, who I know, who have Facebook account, checks it more frequently than their email, regularly posting new content and commenting others. The fact is that everyone will die sometime, as well as their online trace. In my opinion, the "in memoriam" pages, and everything about "virtual" death is a natural consequence of having an online identity, but as I said in comment to previous post, such things like virtual cemeteries, which mostly are made to earn money are just disgusting.
ReplyDeleteVirutal graveyard is for me for lazy people. I also do not like those symbols [*] which really does not mean anything. So maybe if everything goes this direction we will start to make cyber funeral etc. - for me it is stupid. Instead of that we should go to the real cementary, light a real candle at the real grave and make a real prayer.
ReplyDeleteWebsite storing all passwords and giving them to someone we have chosen is good idea I think. I have not known about such things. But what if we forget to login to such page and they will consider us as death and the procedure will start?:> Also such sites can be a target for hackers - one place with passowrds to a lot of pages is tasty piece of cake. So it has its pluses and minuses in my opinion
Everyone react different for someone close dead. If they like to publicate that event on somekind of virtual graveyard, go ahead. We should not forget that it is not somethink new. For many years we can find it in newspapers. One think makes me angry, that you have pay cash on virtual graveyards for better candles or wreaths.
ReplyDeleteI agree with villemo.
ReplyDeleteClicking and posting mark like this '[*]' is not even too easy, it is ignorance. I hate this attitude in Internet. In my opinion people should do some things right or don't do it at all. Making a virtual graveyard? I don't even know how to comment it :( It's horrible and stupid.
Websites like Legacylocker.com are a good idea. After the death the family can deactivate dead person accounts, so they won't hurt anyone.
I think this services could be usefull but they're not necessary. Do we really keep secrets on mail, fb account or other sites? Are we trully so much affraid to tell to the closest person password to some social network? Do we really don't trust the beloved ones? Webservices like Legacylocker.com or zostawslad.pl are very good for loonely people, without familly and close frineds. Maybye I'm old fashioned, but personally I hate this [*] thing. If I'm in mourning I behave as I should, I go to the gravyard, light a candle and pray. I don't shout about it in the intenet.
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of the LegacyLocker.com quite interesting. I personally would like such a site but not giving your credentials to the ones you stated but deleting your contents on the websites specified.
ReplyDeleteVirtual cemeteries - they can be good. Business is business but they are probably far cheaper to keep - remember that 'typical graves' are destroyed if you don't pay for a period of time.
Virtual ones also allow remote family to somehow 'access' the grave. Plus it may enable people to reconstruct their genealogical trees in an easy way.
Lastly, virtual graves can be connected with the real ones (something like http://memori.pl/).
To people who find it sick - sponsored by the beloved EU : )
It's first time when I hear about virtual graveyard. I visited this website and I couldn't believe what I've read there that "we bury our close relatives on a Virtual Graveyard, in the same way as in real world, in a single, double, triple, family, and common grave or in catacombs. A living person by establishing a grave for himself can prepare own obituary and mailing to the stated address. It will allow the dead contact material world and convey a piece of information, often such they weren't able to say in their lifetime." It's next website for clicking and posting "virtual candles". Now I agree that somehow our lives and deaths are becoming digital .
ReplyDeleteVirtual Cemetery is one of the stupidest idea I've ever heard. How can you call it the remembrance of the people using the mouse and inflammation of a virtual candle.
ReplyDeleteThis is another idea for making money on the web. "The eternal flame for 50 zloty " or "a grave for the VIP for 500 zloty" people using this way are naive.
Keeping our all important passwords on any web site is also pointless. How can I be sure that my data was stolen and fall into the wrong hands?