I recently made arrangments with a fellow FReeper to notify you all in case of my untimely demise. Seemed like a good thing to do at the time but now I'm wondering it wasn't a bit morbid.
Not morbid at all. I was given the task by a fellow FReeper to do just that upon the time I found appropriate following her imminent passing. And I did so, not just here at FR, but on several other boards we both frequented.
The following from the article describes part of what occurred after I followed her wishes:
Some of Huth’s online acquaintances learned of his death through a thread posted on Lipstick and Cigarettes by a close friend of his here in Baltimore. Brett Roberts, an online-only acquaintance from Portland, Ore., says he read about Huth’s demise on the thread only to witness the passing on of the information devolve into backbiting and dramatics.
“It seemed like no one really cared about him dying,” Roberts says via AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), “more that they wanted to seem ‘in-the-know’ by finding out about the events surrounding his death. People wanted to play the victim, throwing claims of being close to him around while probably not knowing anything more than his screen name.”
There was only one incident of it occurring here at FR, and that was done by a troll. But some of the things posted on other boards absolutely tore me to pieces. I had just lost one of my closest friends, online and off, and had to deal with nasty, vicious attacks on her by those who disliked her positions while she was living.
I think it a good idea to have someone ready in the wings to notify internet contacts, but that person had better have a strong stomach, an alligator hide, and a spine of steel. Most especially if the person was involved in controversial issues.