FA+
Shop
When Artists die, They should be remembered. (FA suggestion)
12 years ago
So with the untimely death of 
darkzel, I've been thinking...
It's really great that he touched so many people, no innuendo intended... But really, outside of his fanbase, how many people truly knew him on FA? How many of you even knew about his talent before I posted the last journal? Not calling you out or anything, but would you have known about him if I hadn't posted?
Maybe it's just me being a pathetic romantic with a love of spirituality, but I think that when someone dies, they ought to be remembered. Just as people have tombstones and obituaries to inform people of someone's passing in real life, so too should FurAffinity have a "Memorial" for those we have lost. I'm not saying we need to stop everything when someone passes, but I think that when someone's account is officially marked as "deceased," they should not just be left where they were. Like in the real world, they deserve a proper burial, in a proper burial site.... Hence, a "Memorial" section, so that we can not only appreciate the talents of those who are still alive and well, but also those who came before, who contributed much to our fandom. Basically a catalogue of the deceased, with links to their galleries.
I wish I knew how to formally request this sort of thing from the Admins, but unfortunately I have neither the knowhow, nor the clout to influence administrative decisions.
So what do you guys think?
Do you think FurAffinity should have a Memorial Page, so that we may walk through their halls and reflect on what the departed have given us? We may mourn, but we should never forget.
darkzel, I've been thinking...It's really great that he touched so many people, no innuendo intended... But really, outside of his fanbase, how many people truly knew him on FA? How many of you even knew about his talent before I posted the last journal? Not calling you out or anything, but would you have known about him if I hadn't posted?
Maybe it's just me being a pathetic romantic with a love of spirituality, but I think that when someone dies, they ought to be remembered. Just as people have tombstones and obituaries to inform people of someone's passing in real life, so too should FurAffinity have a "Memorial" for those we have lost. I'm not saying we need to stop everything when someone passes, but I think that when someone's account is officially marked as "deceased," they should not just be left where they were. Like in the real world, they deserve a proper burial, in a proper burial site.... Hence, a "Memorial" section, so that we can not only appreciate the talents of those who are still alive and well, but also those who came before, who contributed much to our fandom. Basically a catalogue of the deceased, with links to their galleries.
I wish I knew how to formally request this sort of thing from the Admins, but unfortunately I have neither the knowhow, nor the clout to influence administrative decisions.
So what do you guys think?
Do you think FurAffinity should have a Memorial Page, so that we may walk through their halls and reflect on what the departed have given us? We may mourn, but we should never forget.
Problem being FA admins are borderline shortbus candidates most times who handle the living poorly enough, so it's likely not ideal.
The other is, FA is a publishing service. They while living, put their art here through the submission process. Sure, it may be a little awkward if their latest submission is a fetish picture or something, but I don't know what kind of right FA would have to move their galleries elsewhere, or go about rearranging what that post. FA doesn't own the art. I don't know what kind of right ANYONE would have to do that with the recently deceased.
Look, you were personally affected by this loss, and you want to do something. That's laudable, but this idea seems kind of ill thought out, and doesn't really provide anything apart from ripping the dead out of the community they chose to be a part of while living. I think, if you personally want this done incase of untimely death, you should give your password to a person you trust very much and specific instructions on what to do with your art. Otherwise, I don't know what we could do for the dead that's really not much for anyone but ourselves. We don't really have funerals for the man in the coffin, we have them for family and friends to have closure. If you seek that with your dead friend, I think you need to look somewhere else than FA for the answer.
Even F-list has a better group setup option than FA.
But, really, its quite limited. Practically the only way to make it a legit group page is to give everyone in the group the password so they can get in there and post at will, and then you'd have a very exclusive group of trusted people. Rarely you'll get a mod who is just a dynamo of ambition that doesn't burn out so fast and can handle everything (I am not one of these mods).
Better off just making a group, elsewhere. Some offsite page. Maybe create a "group" page here for it and post updates once in a while drawing folks over there, but the body of the group is somewhere better suited to host one.
yes, I DO agree that this is an excellent and thoughtful notion.
maybe you could note Dragoneer, yeah?
if his notes are open, that is.
I didn't know Darkzel, but a good RL friend and former roomie of mine (
it would be wonderful for him to have this little extra bit of legacy, because he was a fighter, a survivor, and an excellent person in general.
yeah, very dammit. he's not someone I'm gonna forget anytime soon, just 'cause he's not around any more.
I guess part of the problem for these changes is the structure of FA itself and that most things that would be something like clubs, memorials, interests-groups and such are just run as actual profiles cause of a lack of FA having anything specific for this kind of thing.
Another alternative could also be that FA could make it part of News being posted, it being shown in the little tab that comes up at the top of the site whenever there is something that everybody should read that informs everybody about the passing of a person here on FA.
Why doesn't FA have a journal like function either?
As for how to submit -- My FA -> Report a Problem (that's how you submit all kind of things). And PM Dragoneer -- he usually checks the messages more or less often, however many he might get. Know it from experience.
Now submitting is easy, coding might be more difficult... And admins checking the tickets is much more seldom, too, now that a lot have resigned after a relatively recent mess and a mob blaming them for not asking "How high?" when someone made a tantrum wailing, "Jump!"
To answer your (probably rhetorical) questions, "No, I didn't know of them before you posted." Hell I don't even know most folks on FA that HAVE passed on. But then again I'm just a lurker. I don't 'get to know' artists enough on here to know things until after the fact (I know my own little group of folks, but that's about it).
It WOULD be interesting to have some kind of link to a regularly updated list of folks in the fandom who have passed on, some folks (like myself) could 'know' about just how many folks are affected (granted we all die eventually, so that list will only get longer and longer). But maybe have the pages to where you can't comment on them, they're in read-only mode and the like.
What I find weird are people who just drop by the deceased pages and leave comments. I mean yes it's a good 'thought' to say "Rest in peace", but what does it really do? It's like a group of people going to a stranger's funeral or gravestone and just saying "Sorry you're dead, bro" Not something commonly practiced (then again I've heard it's pretty common on FA to be hit on as well through notes and shouts/comments, so my 'common' knowledge about what's 'really' going on in FA is limited.)
No, not just artists, but pretty much anyone in the community who passes away should be remembered, whether they were artists or not. Title is misleading, and not very respectful towards those who were active members of the community despite never contributing art, stories, music, etc.
They may have contributed to the community with their activities and deeds instead.
'Course, having seen quite a few phony declarations of death in the fandom for the lulz/publicity, some care must be taken as well...
As far as memorials go it wouldn't hurt. I just don't know how many FA members would want to be remembered on here.
From a code aspect of things, its actually not too difficult a task. All we need to do is hope Dragoneer & Co, Will accept this idea.
There are people on this site who are not artists, but amazing people.
People who are on this site who are assholes, but amazing artists.
And so many other variations...
Making a memorial page not only can, but WILL spark tons of debates, arguments, emotions, and situations I'm sure the administration would rather not deal with.
On the surface, it's a charming idea, but below that surface is a really bad situation waiting to happen.
And why do you need more than a full Fa Userpage to remember him?
Or ware accounts of deceased cleaned after a while?
Everyone deserves respect and everyone should be mourned equally, regardless of their artistic talent. =(
It's almost like they're doing it just to be a part of a bandwagon group.
I personally grieve in my own way, like my husband found out today that his only surviving grandmother passed away, nothing really was said more than stating the fact.
Condolences for the loss of your husband's grandmother. =( It is a shame, but it's also nice that you have a good way of grieving/coping.
i feel like its one of those things, people know the page is getting traffic so they want their name on the page. seems disrespectful if anything.
also those impersonal comments just hide loving comments from people who actually knew them....
I think the best thing that can be done is to let those galleries stand that the relatives and friends of the deceased leave online, and that they be closed to further comments. Instead of setting these folks aside, let them remain what they were before-members of the community.
After all, we should be celebrating that they were once with us and are still among us in some fashion.
A few months ago my boss's best friend did suicide.before he died,my boss told me the guy was pretty cool,he even created a car color,and taught my boss how to make a weapon out of a disposable camera.he was a pretty cool guy.
Your friend that you talked about,he sounded wonderful.i am sorry that he died.
At the very least, make it possible to use the search function to search for users. Then we just tag the account as deceased, thus allowing us to find them on our own.