Saturday, January 17, 2009

What Happens If...

Because the blogosphere is only a virtual place, what happens if the author of one of your favorite blogs dies? Blogs -- like corporations -- seem to be able to live in perpetuity. How are we to know that blogger x or y has left this earthly plane?

There are blogs that I have followed for a few years. The author will post on a continuous basis until, one day, the posts stop dead in their tracks. I check back from time to time and there are absolutely no changes. In essence, the blog becomes frozen in time.

I realize there are a bevy of possible reasons. For one, the person may have moved on to greener pastures and has simply forgotten about the blog. Maybe the person got married, moved to another locale or landed a great new job. On the other hand, maybe the person has become so sick and bedridden that they can no longer type at their computer. The last possibility is that the blogger died and there will never again be another post.

I know there's not really anything anybody can do about this, but it just makes me wonder sometimes. Why do some of my favorite blogs simply stop?

3 comments:

  1. I always wondered about that too. It would be nice if there were some kind of etiquette about telling readers you were done, or away for awhile; or, if someone did die, to put the passwords in their will or something so someone else could add a last entry and let people know. I do know at least one who passed, and his blog just sits there now with no notice of it.

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  2. I think you've just had a brilliant idea for an entrepreneurial sort -- A service (for a small fee) that will put a blog to bed once its author has passed into the great beyond.

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  3. I thought about that too. It would be nice if family or friends could close it or take it over.

    Something new to put in your will. :)

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