Man down?

[Bav]

Has anyone else noticed that @Kind of Blue disappeared from the forum last summer?

Obviouly people come and go as their interest waxes and wanes, but as a previously prolific (and verbose!!!) contributor, I thought it a bid odd. I did DM him in November, just to see if all was well, but have had no response.

Bearing in mind that KoB always came across as an old-timer, that got me thinking about what happens when a forum member dies. Yes, I know, it's a very maudling subject, but it is deepest, coldest January and all the festive food goodies have now been depleted, so my mind has wandered to darker matters.

I guess the usual way of things, if no prior thought has been given, is that the person just stops posting and no-one is ever any the wiser. This strikes me as sad and most unsatisfactory - no goodbyes, no thankyous, no acknowledgement and no closure. With that in mind, I think I'll be asking Mrs Bav that, in such circumstances, she log on to the forum and provide certainty.

So, what do you guys think? Am I being ridiculous? Is this thought process completely bonkers/OTT/unnecessary?

BTW, I wasn't motivated to post this crap by anything as sinister as my own, imminent demise. Other than falling over on the ice yesterday and having a right knee that's doing a fabulous impression of a barrage balloon, I'm in good health.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

I miss his absolutely massive rambling posts
Not that I read them

 

[Sasquatch]

I went over on the ice on Friday, thankfully didn't land on my knackered hip but my back was painful over the weekend. Im not sure if being a big lad protected me from worse damage, or contributed to my downfall in the first place.

Im on a musicians forum and over the years people have passed away, including one older chap in his 70s who passed away in bed with a lady 50 years his junior who wasn't his wife! That one made the papers, so while he disappeared suddenly from the forum we eventually discovered what had happened.

Its sad, because you get to know them, learn their likes and dislikes, and they do become friends of a sort. Fingers crossed KoB is OK.

 

[Bav]

I miss his absolutely massive rambling posts
Not that I read them

Yeah, I tended to glaze over after about 3 paragraphs.

 

[DaveD]

Am I being ridiculous? Is this thought process completely bonkers/OTT/unnecessary?

No, it had crossed my mind too, you're not being ridiculous at all.
I hope he's well and has just ditched his T6 for something more capable off road, or worn his keyboard out, but that's a "best case" scenario and we have to be realistic.
A forum with thousands of members loses some each year.

 

[Paynewright]

Perhaps someone from the grammar enforcement committee offended him and he thought ‘fu{k ‘em!’ I’m off. Or perhaps he decided he just needed a break from social media?? Who knows - hope he is OK.

I’m in the Caterham Seven club and regularly meet up with other owners / in whatsapp groups with them etc so news would make it to the forum. This is quite unique in that every other forum I’m on is mostly on-line.

 

[Bav]

Perhaps someone from the grammar enforcement committee offended him and he thought ‘fu{k ‘em!’ I’m off. Or perhaps he decided he just needed a break from social media?? Who knows - hope he is OK.

I’m in the Caterham Seven club and regularly meet up with other owners / in whatsapp groups with them etc so news would make it to the forum. This is quite unique in that every other forum I’m on is mostly on-line.

Yup, may just be a case of assuming 2+2=5. Let's hope so.

 

[Ali-G]

one older chap in his 70s who passed away in bed with a lady 50 years his junior who wasn't his wife!

Well, if you've gotta go.

 

[T6Ollie]

I’ve not really been here long enough yet but I also messaged someone here recently and it appears they haven’t had any forum activity since November. Hopefully they are just busy with life!

 

[StratosFearXX]

Not at all bonkers @Bav I hope @Kind of Blue is fine and dandy, hopefully he (she/they?) will come back soon.

They're strange these ephemeral electronic communications where you don't really know who you're talking to (at).

Hope the knee is a bit better, whiskey usually helps with ailments of that nature I find.

 

[Badjamin]

I had this with a member recently too - I was all hyper focused on getting meself some new wheels and wanted to pursue him for advice and when he didn't reply for a while I looked into it and it seemed he hadn't been online since october... and he's in his 70's... so I felt really bad for potentially being a little impatient prior to the morbid possibilities. He's still active tho and has contacted me since so happy days hehe

If I ever disappear off the forum I guarantee my Mrs has gone ballistic about how much I use the site (she'll obviously exaggerate) and thus I will in a bit of a huff, delete the app and block the site in a pathetic sort of self harming type way... It's happened before!

I will leave instruction should I drop deed, for all my van stuff to be donated to this forum so keep your eye out hehe

 

[Sackmycook]

You can't donate; you must name a price : Forum rules, sorry

 

[Hobo Mikey]

I went over on the ice on Friday, thankfully didn't land on my knackered hip but my back was painful over the weekend. Im not sure if being a big lad protected me from worse damage, or contributed to my downfall in the first place.

Im on a musicians forum and over the years people have passed away, including one older chap in his 70s who passed away in bed with a lady 50 years his junior who wasn't his wife! That one made the papers, so while he disappeared suddenly from the forum we eventually discovered what had happened.

Its sad, because you get to know them, learn their likes and dislikes, and they do become friends of a sort. Fingers crossed KoB is OK.

Way to go.

 

[Bav]

They're strange these ephemeral electronic communications where you don't really know who you're talking to (at).

Agreed - all the more reason to get to one (or more) of the annual forum events and actually meet the people we spend time interacting with. (plug, plug )

On a more serious point, this relates to the issue of digital legacy and whether/how people are planning to provide access to their digital footprint - laptops, mobiles, forum/cloud accounts, etc. - once they're dead. I know I haven't made any plans and I suspect I'm not alone.

Just more musings and food for thought from me.

 

[Paynewright]

Agreed - all the more reason to get to one (or more) of the annual forum events and actually meet the people we spend time interacting with. (plug, plug )

On a more serious point, this relates to the issue of digital legacy and whether/how people are planning to provide access to their digital footprint - laptops, mobiles, forum/cloud accounts, etc. - once they're dead. I know I haven't made any plans and I suspect I'm not alone.

Just more musings and food for thought from me.

I thought about this on 2 levels

1) how do we promote more informal / impromptu meet ups? There seem to be more and more cars and coffee venues sprouting up. I go to Gilks Garage Cafe, Gasoline Juice at Weedon Bec and Pistons and Rings amongst others.

2) GDPR - the likes of Faceache et al seem to lock out families in times of bereavement preventing access to memories. We need to all think about this and sharing relevant access privilages.

 

[Paynewright]

In the Caterham club (circa 2500 paying members) we have volunteer area representatives who are basically a conduit / focal point. Most run a local ‘opt-in’ whatsapp group so if someone is free / fancies a run out you just post. Typically it is head for somewhere that does breakfast / coffee, eat, have a natter, kick tyres for an hour or so and head home.

A destination to drive to, food, company with like minded people and back home in a morning - win, win, win.

The camping weekends are great but its not everyones bag nor unable to commit the time.

Perhaps something the forum officials could look at?

 

[Paynewright]

Also attend Farmers Fayre at Stoneleigh and cars & coffee at Jenno’s in Narborough (2nd Sunday of the month)

 

[Bav]

Perhaps something the forum officials could look at?

Probably best if members volunteer to be a coordinator in their area, as it's not really a forum activity. Courtesy of @Skyliner33, we already have one for "the north" (currently GM + W Yorks).

 

[DaveD]

Agreed - all the more reason to get to one (or more) of the annual forum events and actually meet the people we spend time interacting with. (plug, plug )

On a more serious point, this relates to the issue of digital legacy and whether/how people are planning to provide access to their digital footprint - laptops, mobiles, forum/cloud accounts, etc. - once they're dead. I know I haven't made any plans and I suspect I'm not alone.

Just more musings and food for thought from me.

Seriously I think you raise a lot of points that are of course not unique to this Forum and are national in scale.

 

[Badjamin]

Probably best if members volunteer to be a coordinator in their area, as it's not really a forum activity. Courtesy of @Skyliner33, we already have one for "the north" (currently GM + W Yorks).

#Thebrotherhoodofvan