by Eddie French

Created on: March 10, 2008

Online relationships can be fleeting, or they can be long standing. Sometimes they can just end abruptly, without a word of explanation, without reason and without a word of farewell.

Those of us who post prolifically on the net interact with many different people, on many different forums across the globe.

Have you ever wondered just what happened to that wonderful person who so enriched your world for a short time and then just 'Went Offline' without explanation, without reason?

What happened?

Sometimes the reasons for this loss of contact can be trivial; a change of ISP, lost PC data due to technical problems, or just the simple fact that people move on - forget passwords or usernames - and never get around to renewing old acquaintances.

Sometimes however, the worst case scenario occurs. People pass away. In the physical world this is a tragic loss for those who are close to the newly departed, the drama of life and death plays out as it always has, and people grieve then try to gather up their lives and carry on.

Times have changed, and so too have personal relationships. The virtual relationships experienced by those of us who spend so much time online meeting and interacting with people we are never likely to meet in the flesh are becoming so much more important to us as individuals. Virtual friends and colleagues mean more to some than a lot of the 'real' contacts that people interact with. So, who will mourn you if you pass away tomorrow?

Your physical friends and family certainly. What about your virtual friends?

Do you owe them any consideration? Do you think they need to be informed of the sad fact that you have shrugged off this mortal coil?

Will any of your virtual friends even grieve for you?

They certainly won't if they don't know that you have passed on.

Some people record video's for screening after death, to be played to family members and friends in an attempt to comfort loved ones in their time of grieving and to thank them for the time and the love given to them while they were alive in the event that the chance to do so was missed while they were still around.

Ok - online relationships are not quite that intense and would not require such a personal outpouring, but surely some acknowledgement of the relationship experienced is due.

I have toyed with the idea of creating a personal post, a note of farewell if you like, for all of my virtual friends, to be left with someone who would be given instructions regarding publishing it online at various locations should I meet with an unfortunate end, or simply wear out one day.

Not that I'm anywhere near that stage of life just yet, but like insurance, you never know when you will need it.

I may be a little premature right at this time in considering this idea of mine but the way that relationships are developing on the net right now, and looking forward to how things will progress over the next decade or so, isn't this something we should be thinking about?

Don't we owe it to our virtual friends, even our virtual adversaries, to let them know that we will never be capable of 'speaking' to them again?

Somebody living on the other side of the world from you may even shed a tear at your passing. How magnificent is that?

So, will you write your farewell post soon?

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