SummitPost.org

After the recent loss of a member here, another member has brought up a legitimate concern-- what might happen eventually to pages "abandoned" by a deceased member.

I don't know what past SP practice has been, but unless there is a truly exceptional reason (like a truly awful page) or the family comes forth to give permission, I would not delete or transfer ownership of the page of a deceased member. In memorializing a lost member, we also memorialize that person's contributions to the site.

That is not to say that updates should not be made. If an important change is needed, you can contact the site moderators and they can make the change with as minimal a footprint as possible. But it would be better to keep the original vision and spirit of the page in accordance with the fallen member's efforts, out of respect.

Bob, this issue has come up in the past especially with the loss of valued contributors. If you look at Rahel Maria Liu's profile, I think the standard of care is well stated there.

johnm wrote:Bob, this issue has come up in the past especially with the loss of valued contributors. If you look at Rahel Maria Liu's profile, I think the standard of care is well stated there.

Thank you. That sounds like a reasonable approach. I appreciate the response.

Yes, I would keep the page as a memorial.

But . . .

I noticed that one of his pages is Harney Peak, a state highpoint and thus a popular destination and page. It was created in 2001, so it goes *way* back -- though Haliku edited it last on November 5 for some reason. It's a good older-style page, with good information and photos.

As SP pages for popular objects get longer and feature more photos, I can imagine newbies wondering "why does Harney look like this?" It would be good to have a statement on the pages themselves (not just the profile) as to why they are not changed. I didn't see such as statement on Rahel's pages.

If it's necessary to add new information, there could be a "below the line" section at the bottom of the page clearly noting what has been added since Haliku's passing.