That's deep. :[

I get this, especially with those I met in person at cons or good friends I hadn't seen in a while....even more so when someone commissioned you not-so-long ago and you are clicking around, end up on their page...and they're gone.

I've never seen this!
I'll need to make sure everything I write is very angry before they put an infinity-sign next to my name.

Interesting thought. I always browse on what there last favorite is, submission an journal entry. Just kind of interesting to me .

If it does come to light that a member of FA does die, I think that the Administration stops any additional messages from arriving into the account, but I could be highly mistaken. Unfortunately, I know of only one name who actually has a 'deceased' tag instead of a 'member' or 'banned' tag.

But even then, I don't know if they stopped receiving messages because of this or what... but it does appear that all activity to their account has ceased.

Hm, I don't think I've heard about that!

I was a bit surprised about that myself... I don't know what happens if an account is listed as "deceased" does... if it keeps receiving messages/shouts/ect. or if it halts all activity to it.

Since you can still leave shouts on pages of banned and deceased users I am pretty sure that the messages that they got are still being listed.

The older messages from before her account was still "active" are still there. It's been unchanged for almost a year as no new shouts have appeared.

I've seen a few deceased accounts around where people have posted shouts with their condolences. D:

It was usually before they were tagged, 'deceased', right?

Not that I could tell. They were as recent as a few minutes to an hour or two.

Hrm, then I thought rough. It could be that people took notice and left it quiet on the one I knew.

*thought wrong

Either that or perhaps next of kin can ask for the account to be closed or something. I'm just kinda making this up, but perhaps it's optional like that. Or of course people took notice and stopped leaving shouts. D:

Yes. All the time. Its so sad.

This thought has come across me several times.
IT's sad.

I do however wonder why the word "Deceased"
is put. I thought the word "Memorial" would be more fitting.
Imean what would you remember about the person?

But still, you present a logical way of thought in a subject like this.
IT's deep and makes you wonder.

Huh, funny you this should come up - my late boyfriend who was also on this site now has that mark on his page... for a while I was posting works that he didn't have the time to put up. They were well appreciated, but life got in the way and I didn't check it often enough so they closed the account. It is weird; everyone of them had lives, connections and belongings that are now just left as they were. Fading with the inevitable decay of time. Even a homeless person leaves a mark. If you always pass by them on your way to wherever, perhaps they filled the air with the strains of an old violin or played card games with you once in a while there's a hole. A bit of a nostalgic note whenever you think about them or pass by the once inhabited corners.
I figure it's almost the same on here, perhaps more detached, but at the same time it's always reminder of our own mortality, I guess that's what's a little weird about it...

Very beautifully said.

I never even noticed the significance of that symbol... I'll try to remember that.

Ghosts in the machine. It's even creepier when a facebook extension or app puppeteers a dead loved one. Oh, my passed aunt "likes" oreo cookies? Lovely.

Hey, haven't seen you around in awhile.

My vigil waned-- but I have returned. To watch.

As it should be.

Wow, that is not okay

yet a new reason to hate facebook

Wow, that has the potential to be awkward and depressing.

It's sorta like with deactivated accounts on dA. Except it's real.

Not the only one.

I had never seen that before. I didn't know they did that with the accounts of those that have passed on.

For me I find that at least in a sense its some closure. I've noticed profiles on the site that have sat in that kind of sudden abandoned state, in the middle of a comic, an optomistic journal or a con schedule in their profile...sitting there for several years with no discernable reason as to why. Those I feel are more of a problem because they have no closure, and no one has come up to claim them or say what happened to them.

That's very true. I wonder how many people have passed on without anyone else knowing.

This has settled my mind slightly. I was never aware people who had passed gained that symbol to their name.

I know a few 'oops not really deads' have happened where that symbol was applied - but in theory the admins are to receive an obituary from someone to confirm.

Thank you for this information pie. Ive managed to show some humanity and compassion because of it. I had written and longer and more meaningful message in a note to you, thanking you much better but my phone hates me and erased nearly all of it. This is poor replacement for words that previously had me in tears... but thank you all the same.

or something :T I dunno

she's talking about people whose accounts mark them as being deceased

oh, that's what those are..

what's weird is logging into a site you haven't been on for years (since you made the account) and seeing an unanswered friend request from someone who you know has since died. :\

Ah, wow. Yeah that is intense.

It's the same with Facebook really, some pages have become 'living' memorials to the person that has passed on.
Since Facebook isn't (legally) allowed to take the account offline (since it breaches no violations and the family might object to it, egh it's a bit murky.. Just assume they can't just remove it on a whim.) it stays up forever. Or as long as the familly wants.

The persons still 'likes' the things he / she clicked when he / she was alive and still receives updates from friends and everything. People post on the wall and what nots. So the page lives on even though the owner has died.


Another story that struck me as "oh my" is the story of an anwering machine.
A man once died and he had a personalized message on his system for his mother. She would call him on that machine if she needed something (her beeing incapable of doing some things herself like shopping.) and he would take care of it when he got back from work. Now the thing is, he died due to an accident (can't recall if it was train or car related) but the answering machine was still active and all. His mother would still call him from time to time, knowing fully well that he was dead, but the sound of his voice on that tape was as if he had not passed on.

A touching story, be it a bit macabre at some points.
In this digital age, someone could die and noone could know, given some circumstances that is.

Very haunting.

I am also reminded of this, although the Internet is not involved: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq......alcrossing.jpg

I actually remember this story, quite interesting to read about such things isn't it?

The whole 'linger with us just a little longer' mood.

On that side note, all the people I know are doing mediocre (~), I suppose that's just how furries live then...

... AAAAANYWAY.....

Well, on the brighter side, you can guarantee you added a bit of happiness/enjoyment to their days while they were still here.

Man, I don't usually get emotional, this hit home for some reason.

I have one watcher with that mark. I feel sad when I notice it. I watched her too, such a lovely character for an equally lovely person. We were in the middle of a badge trade. I never got to ship it to her

Well, ya piqued my curiosity. (looks) The only lazy 8s on my friend or watchlists are folks I know are gone (and miss); other than that, they're a remarkably healthy lot, apparently.

You better follow their example!

KAFF KAFF GAG URGGGGLE ~dies~

Uh by that I mean the living, healthy ones.

Oh, OK. (takes vitamins and froot juices)

froot jooces.

Yus.

I'm now going to add a section to my will mandating that someone will periodically log into my FA and comment on the new stuff, as well as fave at least one pic a year.

In fighting games like the Street Fighter series, that symbol generally means no time limit

It's the symbol for infinity. It can be used a lot of places..

It also looks like 1 of the early stages of a donut from the old "Time to make the donuts" commercials :P

I never knew that there was such a symbol and that it meant that.


where does it appear?

Right in front of their username.

hm, you mean on their userpages?

gee, I haven't really gotten to look at the pages of some of my watchers. So I wouldn't know about it...

a guy I knew in the area here passed away nearly five years ago now. His account isn't flagged as deceased, but it's enough that I know he's gone. I hadn't thought about it in a while really, but it is indeed strange to go back to his page and see it all exactly the same as it was when he died

There's only one person on either of my watch lists with that symbol next to their names, I can't say I knew the guy but it's sad to see them gone as they had some talent and some odd but good ideas.

Aye, I've thought of this, as well. I can think of one person who watched me who's in that state. It is kind of a humbling thing, and it makes you think about your own mortality, even slightly.

Dude....


*goes to check his Watched By list*

No...I don't think I'd call it weird. It's something that, at least to me, subtly reminds of the fact there's actually a real person on the other side of the screen. Characters and fantasies can live on forever, but the same can't be said for the people attached to them, and it's just kinda unfortunate I suppose. If that makes any sense...knowing me prolly not. :P
It's even more...interesting when it's someone you actually knew quite well, both online and RL. Kinda rides that fine line between sad realities and happy memories, ya know...

I think about that too from time to time :c but I've never looked through my watchers list and looked for the symbol...I'm gonna go do that :c <3

The weirdest thing for me is what I see in their favorites or submissions. When I see dogs having sex, or Pokemon or MLP or something, it's such a specific interest, and it's weird that they'll forever be able to be defined by that.
It seems so strange that they'll always be where they stopped, when people all around them move on and grow further. It really makes you realize that death stops everything.

Death stops everything.
Even the fetish for giant macro dragons with three dicks ramming buildings.

(I'm so so sorry...I just had to. I had to)

I can't say I have noticed this before, but now it is strange.... it never really came to mind because one guy I saw who had died some years ago did not have the ∞ next to his name...so this is the first I knew about that marker on profiles, it is strange to see them floating around now.

This strikes a deep chord, thank you

I've never noticed this infinity sign next to anyone's name.

this is something that I tend to ignore since I don't communicate much with most of the people that cared to follow my junk, but it happens , and there was this guy from Italy who played piano in a baroque style with birds singing on the background, I loved his work and often commented on his material and he did the same to mine, He passed away two years ago due to a disease (I believe leukemia), so when I look back and see his comments on my stuff... its like talking to a ghost, a recorded message of a death friend. the fact that he is death now, and will remain death and that is how he haunts me

Sadly you cant put them in a folder and move them around then line them up for a conga line! <3 Sry it just reminded me of George Carlin. Well w.e you believe proof that they appreciated your work will always be there and everyone can see who they where by who they watch.

The final shout, like looking back at a hollow shell, a gravestone if you would.

i never noticed that.

I haven't lost anyone with a FA account, so this never happened to me...finding messages from someone long gone.
Thankfully all my watchers are still alive. But it must be a really awful sad feeling to find that symbol on your watchlist...

Yet, this is some deep shit.

I'd feel a lot weirder suddenly noticing one by someone I'm watching.

I don't comment very often here on FA, so the few times I have generally stick in my head. I went back to look at a past comment I had made, only to find that the artist had died. To see that someone I had made contact with, no matter how fleeting, had since passed away was sad. It struck me more than I had expected.

Seeing death on FA is a strange thing. Their pages remain as a memorial, a place for their friends to mourn and strangers to pay their respects.

I've always noticed this and... always had one thing in my mind about this site that I find particularly, uniquely appealing.

That symbol is a respect very few places afford.

It's sad but... very kind.

I'm not really someone to really say much on this. Considering I'm just simply a watcher and not a artist.

But it's somewhat interesting and a little bit odd to read the last activity throughout the account.

Fans, friends.....enemies sometimes leave their last messages to the deceased at the end. You might even see the last words from just before the person died. It's always there to remind you. I actually feel kind of sad to think that if this sight gets hit hard again by hackers, it might all disappear.

It's triggers a lot of responses in me. It's like walking into a old room that hasn't been open since the occupant died a few years back. All those memories of their old work, discussions and their personal interests.

Oh god, I dont want my last favorite ever to be porn! D=

when you put it like that, shit that's pretty depressing

I was a a bit confused at first, since I was reading that as '...they notice the INFINITY by someone that watched them?' I know it usually stands for life, death, and rebirth, but I have never seen it mean only mean death or the end before. Any reason you used that over just saying death? Just really curious.

It's the symbol FA uses, I didn't pick it.

...Huh. I was unaware of this aspect of the site, so I went to check the profile of a guy I knew who died, and there it is.

Guess I'll keep an eye out for this kind of thing. It is odd to ponder, as you pointed out.

*Nods* Yeah.

It's a little strange, yeah...
I remember, on my last account, I vanished for a few months. Family issues and the like. Usual stuff. Another few months before that I'd gotten bored and decided to do silly sketches for whoever wanted one, to keep me busy and do something for others if they wanted.

There was this girl with an african wild dog 'sona or something that I didn't really know, but she watched me and asked for one and I happily pooped out a cute little sketch for her. She was all sorts of thankful and it made me smile a little that somebody could enjoy a sketch even from someone with as little 'real' artistic skill as a lot of folks here. After looking at her page, I realized that all she ever did was ask others to draw her 'sona and she had all sorts of art faved and saved and uploaded. Mine was there with it all.
It made me smile even moreso that my little thing was appreciated by her. She was so nice.

Anyway, I came back from that hiatus I mentioned for a few days (I soon vanished again) and saw a little message on my page. It was apparently from that girl's boyfriend. He was letting everyone he thought might have known her know that she'd taken her own life and that information on the showing/funeral and such was on his page. He'd apparently gone through the art and sent the message to everyone who'd made her something, for a lack of knowing who, exactly, she was closest to. I didnt see the message until a month or two after her death.

It made me pause and I gave her a moment of silence and a prayer, regardless. I also had to wonder.
If I had been the one to do, through suicide or other means, who would know? My account would go into a limbo. Everyone I know online, here and on other sites, would wonder where I'd gone. I don't have anyone who would go to people and tell them, who would instantly know. Maybe I'd get lucky and someone would send a mass text on my phone or go through my facebook friends. I have a certain girl on both those that would tell others. I didn't get online one day and she texted me until I woke up from a fever-induced nap and let her know I was super ill. It's still a slim chance of happening, having someone tell all these people, though.
I've never experienced someone just vanishing like that, but this is the internet and it happens.
It all comes down to: "What would they think if it did happen?"

... bleh, now I've gone and rambled.

That's what that means? Oh... O.o

I have a lot of dead fans.

Damn girl. That's deep. Kinda sad to think about on one hand but yeah, a honor in another. There are a few folks who've died who had sites here and watched me I also knew in passing at cons. One in particular that would visit my table every year and chat for a bit. It was weird last year, when for the first time of me going to cons, he didn't show up.

That is deeper than it should be but its true. Kind of scary but depending on your view of an after life may be still watching and liking just not affecting this plane.

It feels very weird.
Sometimes I know them, and sometimes I didn't. Either way it makes me feel a strange sadness.

maybe they should rename the site furINFINITY.ha ha oh god I'm sorry i should be making joke that bad at a time like this. I'll go now...

What I wanna know is; how does FA know the person died? I deduced someone would have to tell the administrators, a friend of the person, but then...don't they have to prove it somehow? The person's computer might be down for all the admins know, and the friend could just be a tard. I have no "friends" on this site. If I suddenly died...who would know?

Supposedly they have to produce an obituary.

Ah, I see.

this is something i've thought about about often. it really breaks my heart when i come across a profile with that symbol on it. someone i never knew and will never have the chance to know now. that thought kind of haunts me.

it's eerie how their account just remains frozen in time. i've never lost a friend on furaffinity, but i still can't help but tear up reading the comments on deceased people's profiles from friends/family. i can never really get them out of my head.

So true, I always get a bit down when I go to someone's deceased page and read a glimpse of their last journal entry. Ahhh, death is such a strange thing when you really start to analyse it

oh jesus i went to look at my watch list and have several.. i clicked on two names just to see what thier last journals were and the second one was a suicide note...

fuck that... :(

;n;

It seems that there are more suicides on FA then deaths by accidents....

Yeah I've come across that a few times, one person - the last thing they fav'd on FA was a picture by me. It's kind of jarring sometimes to think about.
I guess it's only life though, it's bound to happen but it does make you question your own mortality at times.

Besides all the macabre dialogue, Pie is super duper cute here.

Wait, there's a thing for when you die?

How do they even know?

Yeah. It strikes me as a confrontation with mortality creeping up in a place where we least expect it, giving us a reminder. Gives me the heebiegeebies :C

i don't get any watchers

wow that is such deep thought and really make's someone stop and think. i know of a web-comic i really liked and was waiting for the next up date then on a different web-comic i follow in their message box they say a know web-comic maker and close friend had past and a link to there site and when i saw the name my heart dropped it was like losing a close friend and i felt really sadden by their passing heck i feel sad now rethinking it

Always struck me how FA had a way of letting people know a person is deceased, whereas DeviantArt doesn't (at least, to my knowledge).

Either way, it's really sobering to visit a deceased person's page. I tear up and feel so heartbroken, even if I didn't know the person at all. =(

Quite so... it's especially odd feeling when you do have some kind of minor connection with someone, like you were a fan of their art or got off to it often and then became friends with that person, like passing friendship. it's so strange to see their stuff pop up or whenever you go back and see them online...

I think of  tiburonwin specifically in my case. i got a lot of commissions from him and was friendly with him, and when he passed, now it's this odd feeling whenever I look at either the work he's done in my folders, or the commissions I've gotten from him...

 tiburonwink

Life is fleeting, as they say. But the Internet, and all the things on it, is far more ephemeral.

Yeah... this is definitely one of the things that unnerves me (and kind of saddens me) just a little when I'm online. To know that you're viewing the thoughts and work of a person who's literally dead and gone... it's like they're still there, but at the same time, they're not.

One of the scariest things in particular (at least for me) is when you happen to view their page more than once after they've passed on. If you pay attention to such things, you'll slowly notice the time period denoted beneath their most recent uploads/favorites/journals change... going from weeks, to months, to years, to a lot of years... it's like visiting the grave of a long-deceased friend or loved one, except 99% of the time, you NEVER get any closure from doing it. (At least, I never get any closure from it. I have just one person on my watchlist who passed on a couple of years ago, and to this day, I still get disconcerted looking at her profile page...)

Scary though girl

You and I think along very similar lines of morbidity.

I have had two very close friends pass who have accounts on this site. One of which had withdrawn from all his friends and family, and I was only informed of his passing through visiting his user page. It was quite a shock as we had been quite close before I had to move away. I'd much rather the limbo of the infinity symbol than the Facebook fiasco of using dead relatives to hawk advertising.

ive had two very close friends die here on fa. every so often i will be combing and old pic in my gallery and read a comment. a moment frozen in time. it is kind of humbling

I'm still new to FA, so I haven't seen that sign or maybe did, but never knew what it meant. Although on DA, I know at least one person that died there and her page is like a memorial to me, her friends, and bf (who by now moved on because that was her final wish).