"I ping dead people."
They're with us in spirit.
Also, since dead people vote, shouldn't they be informed too?
Seriously, you're right about not pinging people on the list, who are known to be dead. Toward that end, I'll remove MrConfettiMan (RIP, Joe) when I send out the next updated ping list.
However, since there is no postage or paper costs, I don't see a benefit of pruning people from the DC Chapter ping list simply b/c they haven't posted in a given time period, even the pruning could be done without a laborious process. Many people hardly ever post, even though they read FR.
Now THAT was funny!