While we are on the subject of death...

The Heretic

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I have noticed a new trend; websites that are memorials. Various people have had websites while alive that after they died their survivors have kept going. Others have put up pictures, biographies, etc. on various memorial websites.

I have thought about actually going into that business; offering web maintenance/creation services for people who want websites to memorialize their deceased loved ones, or for people who want their websites to continue after they have died. A lot of the memorial service website services I have surfed are pretty poorly designed and kept up, so I am sure I oculd do a better job than they do, but I don't think there is enough of a market out there to make any money on it.

What do you think? Would you want a website memorial?
 
Heretic, it is indeed a new trend. I know 2 people who are thinking of going into that busines. So if I were you, I'd hurry and get into it!
 
Shingen said:
Heretic, it is indeed a new trend. I know 2 people who are thinking of going into that busines. So if I were you, I'd hurry and get into it!
There are already quite a number of such websites - but like I said their quality and breadth of services suck. Also, I have noticed that they have very few clients, so I have some doubts about the profitablity of the market.
 
Sounds like a good idea, but how long would the relatives want to keep the page running for? For some, it may just be a passing fancy; a way to express their grief until it's not needed any longer.
 
I suppose it makes sense, in this society where we interact with people all over the world, to have a virtual gravesite that people would visit. I don't think it would be something I would want, but I can see others being really willing to pay someone to provide that service for them.

Go for it, you're not out that much if people don't hire you, are you?
 
The Heretic said:
There are already quite a number of such websites - but like I said their quality and breadth of services suck. Also, I have noticed that they have very few clients, so I have some doubts about the profitablity of the market.

They have few clients, probably because they aren't marketing their services a lot. All you have to do is go look in the obits or go to a funeral home and be a savvy salesperson.
 
WynEternal said:
Sounds like a good idea, but how long would the relatives want to keep the page running for? For some, it may just be a passing fancy; a way to express their grief until it's not needed any longer.
Agreed. A company could provide some kind of "eternal" service for a given fee (depending on data size), but then the question for the people paying the fee is trust in how long that company would last. Dot coms come and go, and you could pay for an "eternal" memorial webpage or website, only to have the company dissapear in six months because they couldn't make any money.

Also, if someone already has a website, then it is fairly easy to just leave it where it is and have the fees periodically deducted from your credit card. The services I could maybe offer there would be maintenance; things like a backup, making sure that if the site gets hacked it is restored, if the site host goes away (which they often do) the site gets moved to a new host - that kind of stuff. But I am totally unsure of profitability and market demand.
 
pagancowgirl said:
Go for it, you're not out that much if people don't hire you, are you?
It depends on the services I offer. If I offer something that is eternal then I could wind up getting sued if I find out it isn't profitable and can't continue to offer the service.
 
The Heretic said:
It depends on the services I offer. If I offer something that is eternal then I could wind up getting sued if I find out it isn't profitable and can't continue to offer the service.

True, though I think offering 'eternal' services wouldn't be something you'd want to do anyway... afterall, you can't maintain the sites after your own death, can you?

I'd offer different 'packages'... maybe in increments of one, three, five, and ten year maintenance.
 
Personally, I wouldn't want one.

A gravestone with blinking neon lights and movie reels is tacky. So why would an Internet site be any different?

Plus, I don't think I'll lead a life extraordinary enough to deserve my own permanent cybermemorial.

TB4p
 
teddybear4play said:
Personally, I wouldn't want one.

A gravestone with blinking neon lights and movie reels is tacky. So why would an Internet site be any different?
A website (or gravestone) can be as tacky or as nice as you want it.

Plus, I don't think I'll lead a life extraordinary enough to deserve my own permanent cybermemorial. [/B]
There are a number of reasons:

1) People are spread out nowadays, and some people just might not be able to make it to a memorial service/funeral. Having a website/obit helps in this respect.

2) Some of these websites/pages also serve as a kind of wake where people share memories of the deceased.

For the most part the websites/pages are not for the deceased, but for the people they leave behind - just like a memorial service/wake. I want a wake where people attending wear Hawaiian shirts and have a lot of fun. If I ever get my Heretic website going and polish up some of my writings, I would like to see them persist on the web after my death.
 
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