‘Missing’ Bloggers.

~ beetleypete

I had a request to help contact a ‘missing’ blogger yesterday.
That got me thinking about that particular blogging issue once again.

What happens to our blogs, if something happens to us? Sudden illness, perhaps even unexpected death, and the blog stops posting. No replies to comments, no contact by email, and we just become ‘missing bloggers’. I have no contingency plan for this on my own blog. No post ready as an obituary, should I unexpectedly shuffle off this mortal coil. Nobody else has access to my WP password, and as far as I know, nobody would even think to tell the blogging community of my demise.

Even if all that was in place, would those left behind even remember how to put up that post, or bother to let my email contacts know? I doubt it.

That leaves us with the ‘how long’ scenario. How long do we wait until we presume that out blogging friend is either dead, or too ill to ever post again? Some bloggers post so rarely, it might not seem strange at first. But many of us post daily, or at least weekly, so that absence would soon be missed. Then after a few months, perhaps a year, we have to resign ourselves to believing they are gone for good. At least their blog will go on, and their posts remain stuck in the virtual cloud for as long as WordPress continues to operate.

Over the past seven years, I have been notified of three bloggers who have passed away. One of their relatives kindly contacted their email recipients, or managed to post an obituary. But many more have just disappeared. Their blogs are often stagnant, that last post resembling the uneaten meal on the Marie Celeste. In some cases, they have deleted their blogs completely, or made them ‘private’. But whatever the reason, they are gone, and have never reappeared.

In this blogging community enjoyed by so many of us, the disappearance of a blogging friend leaves behind a feeling of genuine bereavement.

So this post is for all you ‘absent’ bloggers. You are missed.

62 thoughts on “‘Missing’ Bloggers.”

  3. Pingback: ‘Missing’ Bloggers. — beetleypete | Talitha's World

  4. That is so kind to wonder and think of missing bloggers. I think I need to have a conversation with hubby to contact my bloggers in the case of something terrible. He knows they, like you, are all good friends. Have you had that conversation with your wife? Best to you, Pete.

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  5. So true, Pete! I am back. 🙂 Excuse the late re-visit, but we have some trouble here in town. The want to renew a old monument for the soldiers of the two WorldWars. This one is very near to our house, but the want to make a glorious monument of it, honouring the WW II and the Nazis. This is not to allow, also not only four kilometres away from the CzechRepublic. Best wishes, Michael

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  6. I notice Facebook has something in place, you can write your obituary ahead of time! Other than that it requires someone to become a digital executer to then administer what happens next.
    I quite like the idea that the pages will stay up for ever, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a point at which they clear out things with no activity, I must check.
    But you point about loosing people hits home, I have lost a few elderly bloggers who had talked about poor health and then they stop. I was surprised with one who emailed me back after about six months after I emailed them to see if they were ok, a lovely surprise and we have stayed in touch since 🙂

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    1. As Cindy said, it is strange to think that being a blogger has become something to deal with after death. I think that’s a good thing, as it shows just how much care and concern we feel for people who have become genuine friends online.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. I see no reason why some sort of system can’t be set up to notify the community when one of us passes. Perhaps registering a phone number or set of alternative email contacts to be released after so many missed blogs…this will require some more thinking, but it only makes sense.
    Warmest regards, Theo

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  10. I don’t have a contingency plan, either. Maybe I’ll come up with one. But also, maybe, the word will spread through (some of) my fellow bloggers who have become good friends over the time.

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  11. I used to regularly read the posts of some bloggers but they do not post anymore. I have no idea what had happened to them. And after some time I forget them because there is so much to read and to post. That is life.

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  12. Few (if any of us) care to dwell on our own mortality. Perhaps this explains why many bloggers (including myself) make no arrangements for when they pass on. This is also the case with wills, with many people leaving this earth not having made one. I have a will but, as mentioned earlier, I have no arrangements in place for when I shuffle of this mortal coil. Best – Kevin

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    1. Thanks, Kevin. Perhaps I place too much on those electronic connections. But so many bloggers in this community have become real friends, that I am always concerned when I no longer hear from them.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. I also feel sad when those with whom I have connected with online disappear, so I can completely understand your perspective. Even when a blog disappears it may live on, in part or in whole through such archives as the Wayback Machine. I I can relate to what you say as I also have felt a sense of sadness when a blogger disappears. Even when the blogger is gone, their work may live on, in part or in whole via the Wayback Machine or similar internet archives which crawl the web collecting snippets perhaps to be poured over by future generations. Best – Kevin

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  14. A sad thought that has entered my mind many a time! I have had this happen to me at my old job with regular customers, and with a woman who friended me on Foursquare before. Luckily, I knew their real name and could look them up to find their obituary. I mean, family has enough to deal with to think of the local video game peddler as someone that should be notified. But, you never know where bonds and friendships are formed!
    My WordPress is always open on my computer and phone, so I would hope that my man would think to let the community know if anything happened to me… I should probably check that (… I have such a morbid sense of humour, the first thing that came to mind was that I should write my own funny post to be posted in case. Everyone would appreciate some jokes and funny death GIFs… Right? ☠️😂🤔)

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    1. Thanks, Nicole. I would also like to write my own blogging obituary, if only to thank certain people who helped make my blogging experience so wonderful. But like you, I have made connections through blogging that leave me greatly concerned when those people ‘vanish’.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. My OH is also an administrator on my blogs and me on his so we can put up a ‘no longer with us’ post if necessary. I have a couple of blogger ‘friends’ who have disappeared and who used to post frequently. It is a worry, especially when you leave a ‘hope all is OK’ comment on their last post and they do not respond 😢

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  17. Pingback: ‘Missing’ Bloggers. | beetleypete | Campbells World

  19. Since this is my sixth year blogging, who’d of thought it would become a part of our identity and something to take care of in the event of passing? I’ll tell my daughter how to make a post to let you know in the event of my passing.

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  23. I have a post automatically scheduled six to nine months ahead to say that, for whatever reason, I am no longer attending to my blog. I hope you won’t see it for a long time.
    I have to keep remembering to update the scheduled date, but that hasn’t been a problem so far.
    It adds that any recent posts are also likely to be automatically scheduled ones – occasionally I have posts ready for winter or summer, etc.

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  24. I have made many trips back to people who clicked and/or commented regularly and then – POOF – they’re gone. I ask if they are okay. Sometimes I get the usual answer that “life got in the way” or they were ill. If I don’t hear from them… well, you know what to conclude from the silence.

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  25. I was quite prolific poster but then a couple of years ago, I was involved with work and only managed a couple of posts a year. I can only imagine that many of readers have passed on as my readership has dropped to below 100. I have told my children what to do in the event of my passing.

    What I find disturbing is birthday reminders I get for deceased freinds on Facebook.

    But when we go, there’s a fading echo of our former selves on the internet for years to come.

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    2. Bill, I was going to note that as well – Facebook sends out birthday notices for everyone who has signed on, and when someone passes away, that prompt doesn’t change. it is very awkward to get a notice that they are celebrating a birthday – two people have reacted strongly when that has happened with a deceased loved one…

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