Wikipedia talk:Deceased Wikipedians/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Mitchell Melton

Looks like User:Mitch Melton may have been the article subject of Mitchell Melton, who died in 2013. Connormah (talk) 00:34, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

• The account has less than 100 edits with all edits to one particular article. Tito☸Dutta 06:43, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

Admin right of deceased editors

See the current guideline/policy which is not very clear.

Admin and other rights of User:Cindamuse have been removed recently. As a symbolic gesture we do not block deceased user's account. Do we have any record of deceased editors' accounts making disruption at Wikipedia? Can we stop removing rights of deceased users' acounts (specially the "admin" right, Cindamuse became an admin in this January only, and we can not blame Cindamuse for her absence/inactivity.) Tito☸Dutta 18:12, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

First, "the mop" and other userrights are given to editors for them to accomplish work here. If the user is gone (dead or missing) they no longer have need of the tools. Furthermore, accounts which aren't actively being used could be compromised. Removing the tools prevents ne-er do-wells from grabbing the account to cause harm. Cindamuse is dead and so far as I know, she wasn't a hat collector. Chris Troutman (talk) 18:23, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Agree – removal of the right is not performed to adversely impact the deceased editor or even to protect the wiki from the remote possibility of its fraudulent use. It simply allows the number of users in that group to be an accurate reflection of the number of users available to perform the associated functions of membership.—John Cline (talk) 18:32, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

• The admin bit isn't a reward or badge of honor, it is just a tool set given by the community to people they deem to be generally trustworthy and sane. Just as we remove the bits from admin who leave wikipedia after one year of no edits, we remove them from people who can't use them, in large part for security. If the account has no special privileges, then it isn't likely to be a target for someone to hack. Anyone that wants to see why so many people liked her just have to look at her contribs, not her bits. Dennis Brown | 2¢ | WER 01:25, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

User:JimCubb

JimCubb passed away 3 years ago. I just found out doing an internet search for him. [1]. My condolences to him family. -- Magioladitis (talk) 21:09, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

This is a huge loss. Jim was a great guy, who did tireless, mostly thankless, but important work. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 14:00, 26 August 2014 (UTC).

User:Ray_Dassen

It is unlikely that this user will edit Wikipedia again. He made between 250 and 500 edits. 84.127.80.114 (talk) 22:24, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

@84.127.80.114: While you might be right, there's insufficient evidence that the person mentioned at debian.org is the same person. Chris Troutman (talk) 23:23, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

User:Ray Dassen claimed to be Ray Dassen. Ray Dassen claimed to contribute to Wikipedia.[2]. xinara.org was created in 2003. 84.127.80.114 (talk) 13:13, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Jerry E. Smith

According to Wikipedia:Wikipedians with articles and User:Jerry E. Smith's user page, this user was Jerry E. Smith who died on 9 March 2010. Is there any confirmation for this? IJA (talk) 00:03, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

I found his website here which has confirmation. Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 01:46, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

I've put the notices on his userpage and talk page, I've requested full protection - would someone else like to add the RIP entry? Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 01:52, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure of the inclusion criteria, but this user was notable so I'd assume they'd be eligible? Regards IJA (talk) 01:58, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Category:Deceased Wikipedians

• Consensus for deletion of Category:Deceased Wikipedians (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) was determined in 2007. Subsequent reincarnations were deleted under CSD#G4 in 2008 and 2010. There was also a mention here in 2008.
• While I understand that the list of deceased Wikipedians is helpful, if Category:Deceased Wikipedians were to be recreated, it may provide an easy way in which to gather data about deceased Wikipedians in the future (e.g. number of users interacted with, number of edits, etc.) via simple and consistent reference to usernames. While such data could be extracted from the current list, its formatting and maintenance may cause issues. (N.B. AFAIK such data isn't currently being used, and I have no plans to introduce such an idea myself.)
• The list may also be missing entries, e.g. editors may believe that simply adding {{Deceased Wikipedian}} to a user page (and/or user talk page) adds the former user to a category: it does not. (The first example I found is that of User:KTDykes (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs), who's not linked to within the list.) And the text displayed by the template {{Deceased Wikipedian}} doesn't even link to the list, although that could of course be boldly changed by anyone as a logical improvement.

Therefore, per WP:CCC, this there any support for reincarnation of the category? Thanks for reading. -- Trevj (talk) 12:03, 21 November 2013 (UTC) I meant to add that I'm also proposing that {{Deceased Wikipedian}} be amended to automatically include users within the category when the template is transcluded (this could be optionally specifically disabled if needed, but the default behaviour would be to include). -- Trevj (talk) 15:59, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

• Support recreation as this would be a catchall for those Wikipedians who are now deceased but did not meet the minimum requirements to be on the list. What could this information possible be used for? It may expedite detection of a deceased Wikipedian's account being hacked and used for malicious purposes at very least. Technical 13 (talk) 15:36, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

  Interesting and valid point - I didn't consider that! -- Trevj (talk) 15:55, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

• Your addendum was implied to my eyes as it would be a logical process. Technical 13 (talk) 16:15, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

• Support per Trevj. — TheJJJunk ^{(say hello)} 15:42, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

• Since this has been sitting here for over a year with unanimous support, I've recreated the category and added the code to have the template populate the category as is appropriate. — {{U|Technical 13}} ^{(e • t • c)} 02:25, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Andrew lingen-stallard

Dear madam/sir, a user has requested assistance at the help desk in order to properly deal with the recent passing of Andrew lingen-stallard. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 16:41, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

His surviving edits seem to have consisted solely of an autobiographical user page. We don't usually add such people here, but his user page has been updated to note his passing. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:27, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Thank you, Taketa (talk) 19:33, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Ideas for when users die in real life

Please see the thread I've started at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(idea_lab)#Ideas_for_when_users_die_in_real_life. Happy to discuss my idea here or there, whichever is more appropriate. --Dweller (talk) 13:05, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

I've been meaning to work on mine; I do recall one editor who had a well developed one. I thought it was here somewhere, but haven't been able to find it. Perhaps I'm thinking of someone else. I'll do a little digging around. It's been a long time since this, but it may have been one of the folks there that I was thinking of. — Ched :  ?  13:37, 17 February 2015 (UTC)

• Ah - found it: User:Neurolysis/Death — Ched :  ?  13:42, 17 February 2015 (UTC)

Frank "Onno" Braun (Frankonno)

At Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/2011#Frank "Onno" Braun (Frankonno) there's a typo in "HeHe died at his home, near Berlin, surrounded by family." Page is protected so I can't fix it. Mr Potto (talk) 15:35, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

@Mr Potto: Fixed, thank you. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:45, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. Mr Potto (talk) 15:46, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

User:Dancing is Forbidden (Formerly User:Rosie, Queen of Corona)

Can anyone confirm that this Wikipedian is deceased and what their real identity is so that they can be added to the list of Deceased Wikipedians. According to their user page the last entry was 30 April 2010 at 02:06 GMT, this was presumably done by a family member or friend to alert the Wikipedia community of their passing but they have not provided any additional information. TheGoofyGolfer (talk) 03:47, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

TheGoofyGolfer: I have conducted a search— I took a chance that this user's real first name was Rosie, and did a search of all Florida newspaper obituaries via Legacy.com for people who died with that first name between 2010 and 2014. I then did a key word search with those results for both her death date (given in the Userpage as April 29, 2010, specifically, though sometimes obituaries say things as vague as "died on last Thursday", so this is no guarantee) as well as likely dates for an obituary to have come out (April 30, May 1, May 2, and May 3). I came up empty handed. There is lots of info on her former userpage about where she lived, and I can estimate her approximate age at time of death as being somewhere between 35 and 55 or so, possibly narrower, probably closer to 45, which means her death was pretty premature, and if her first name really was "Rosie" (and not a variant like "Rosalie" or "Rosalia", which might have been the case if she were shoehorning herself into the Simon & Garfunkle song) then that should be enough to triangulate her full identity and confirm her death. But I came up with nothing, which isn't like me (I used to work for the US Census Bureau, and became pretty good at tracking folks down when I had to, though at the Census we only counted the living). On the other hand, given the tone and format of her current userpage, I do not think this is a spoof death. The fact that she was born in Canada might make her a little more difficult to track using a birth date, but we don't have that here. We DO have an exact date of death, a state of residence (Florida), a likely age range, and former places of residence (Queens, NY; Orlando, FL). If the death databases were organized differently, I should be able to track her on that information alone, even without a first or last name. Alas, the way they are currently structured, that doesn't seem to be the case (I believe this will change at some point in the future, and that someone in that future will be able to identify her when I was not, and the account can finally be properly marked as belonging to a deceased Wikipedian). I gave it my all here: all of my wit, knowledge, and skill, which I like to think are considerable, and I am sorry. KDS4444^Talk 00:12, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

And in one final stretch of effort, I reviewed all 416 death records in the Social Security Death Index for April 29, 2010, looking for anyone with a variant of "Rosie" as a first name. The only hits I got were for a 95 year old woman and another age 66 who is a poor match for other reasons (city of residence). I also did a search on Tributes.com on all 34 variants of "Rosie" I could come up with for people who died in Florida in 2010, and found no good matches. KDS4444^Talk 16:41, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

KDS4444, you went above and beyond with this inquiry! Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 18:44, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

And yet I cannot stop. I have now checked all 402 death records for the state of Florida for April 28, 2010, in case the day was off by one for technical reasons. Found two name candidates, "Rosalie Lubin" and "Rosanne Ratty", but the former is from Ft. Lauderdale, not Tampa, has no history of living in New York City, and was on the old side (57-62) for an Internet maven and Adult Swim fan, and the latter was born in 1939 (just way too old, among other things). I can't seem to drop this subject because I can tell her death was so premature and as middle-aged female Wikipedian she was quite a rarity. It looks like she did most of her editing late at night into the wee hours of the morning— I am sensing possible depression after having been laid off. It's just so damn sad. I don't mind a challenge but the Queen of Corona is proving to be a wall I cannot climb and also cannot stop trying to climb. I just gotta stop looking, 'cause somehow, she just ain't there... KDS4444^Talk 05:55, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

User:Mbeychok

Please see User:Mbeychok.—Wavelength (talk) 21:56, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

@Wavelength: User:Mbeychok is still missing from the list of deceased Wikipedians. Jarble (talk) 18:51, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

@Jarble: Thank you. I have now added him.—Wavelength (talk) 19:07, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Crohnie

User:Crohnie's userpage was tagged with the deceased template in September 2014 by User:Doc9871. Is there any evidence this person, (real name apparently Susan) died? Everymorning talk 02:36, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm not going to reveal her personal information here. If any admin has any doubt about this I will be happy to give them further details through the Wikipedia e-mail system. Per WP:AGF (and my length of time here), it's safe to assume that I'm not making it up. I certainly wish she were not deceased. Doc talk 02:46, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Well, drat. :-( --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 02:52, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Exactly :( Doc talk 03:08, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

• It's not that I don't trust you, Doc9871, it's just that the guidelines say that we need verifiable information that confirms that the editor died before we can add him/her, which I was going to do until I realized that the guidelines didn't allow me to. I would like to ask, in case I am wrong: in the view of others, should Crohnie be added? Everymorning talk 03:36, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Without an obit you shouldn't. (WP:OUTING was probably meant to apply to the living only but it isn't clear.) For users that edit anonymously they may never be recognized as deceased, just missing. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:48, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

I can't imagine why she shouldn't be added. She was a Wikipedian in good standing, and she participated in good faith until health iissues prevented her from doing so. I can easily provide her full name and an obit to the WMF, but I am in no way comfortable doing it in an open forum. I could conceivably contact her son to see if her family wouldn't mind disclosing her RL identity here: but I would feel extremely weird about it. What proof is needed, specifically? Doc talk 03:53, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Doc - would you be okay disclosing it to me, and I can confirm here? I'm an Oversighter and promise to keep it in confidence - Alison ^❤ 05:35, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

I sent you an e-mail: thanks for your help! Let me know if there was a problem receiving it, as the copy I sent to myself included a warning that it might not have been sent by me. Sigh. Doc talk 08:03, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

• Hi all. I just received an email from Doc9871 (talk · contribs) and can state that User:Crohnie has almost certainly passed away. I can't make a 100% connection between the person who's passed away and Crohnie, but I'm almost 90% certain - Alison ^❤ 19:21, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

  Sadly, it is absolutely certain that she is deceased. I would recommend globally locking her account. I have WP e-mails with her that go back to 2010, but I can't find one that can conclusively and irrefutably link the RL person to her Wikipedia account.

I do see that basically every person on the Deceased Wikipedians page has their RL name attached to their WP handle. I did not know this when I added Susan to it. I thought that adding the tag was a memorializing gesture, something I had first seen when Franamax (talk · contribs) was tagged. (I should note that in his linked obituary there is nothing mentioning his involvement with Wikipedia at all.)

I'm very sorry that Susan is gone, and that we have to even discuss this in the first place. Doc talk 06:28, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

I agree with what you say here. It's not conclusive, but it's almost certain. I've no objections if her name is added - it just seems the right thing to do here - Alison ^❤ 19:34, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Hey Doc, I just saw this thread today. :( I've sent Alison an email as secondary confirmation for her real life identity. Would you mind contacting her son to see if it is okay that we memorialize with her real name? I believe this would be a good way to remember her.
 — Berean Hunter (talk) 01:58, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I will ask him. I've been very inactive lately on WP with other stuff going on, but I still check things out. I will let you know what he wants to do. Cheers Doc talk 04:01, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Viva-Verdi

See User talk:Viva-Verdi#Rest in peace, Viva-Verdi and [3].

@Voceditenore: - pelase can your provide (by private email to OTRS, if necessary) the required evidence that these are one and the same person, so that an entry might be made here? And would you like to draft something? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:09, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Andy, please see the Guestbook accompanying his obituary in the Santa Fe New Mexican:

John's many contributions as SFO Docent and Guild member are well documented.

As VivaVerdi, he contributed scores of opera-related pieces to Wikipedia.

An innovator and tireless agent of change, he enriched all in the SFO extended family....

See also the documentation on File:Ellie-foyer.JPG and Viva-Verdi's comment at User talk:Sdrtirs/Archive 1#Ellie Caulkins image added. I would be happy to draft something, if you wish to enter his name on this page. Voceditenore (talk) 05:33, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Jim Cubb

Unless there's a good reason not to he should be added. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 18:17, 5 July 2015 (UTC).

User:Paul Barlow

Does anyone know the cause of death of this bright, seemingly young editor? 50.5.75.176 (talk) 12:47, 13 September 2015 (UTC)

Norbert Bernard

Hello. Norbert Bernard (1974-2005) historian. Error in the date of death : 19 september 2005 (death certificates of Landudal). French biography : Norbert Bernard. Thank you very much, LIONEL76 (talk) 12:06, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

 Done The date has been modified. I am not a number (talk) 19:23, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

Merci beaucoup ! Thank you ! LIONEL76 (talk) 20:32, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

User:Mike Keith Smith

But probably for his own self-editing and also editing on the part of his former friends previously in the British Conservative Monday Club, User:Mike Keith Smith was not otherwise really of sufficient note to satisfy the requirements in order to have an article for and on himself here on Wikipedia, nor arguably a mention in the obituary section either. Nevertheless, for the avoidance of blatant left-wing bias against his own particular personal brand of British politics, would an editor with administrative rights please at least place {{Deceased Wikipedian}} at least onto his {{Userpage}}, thank you! -- Urquhartnite (talk) 12:18, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

User:Belissarius

It is with great sorrow that I deliver this news from pl wiki: User:Belissarius, active on en wiki (through primarily on pl, as pl:Wikipedysta:Belissarius), has passed away. He was a notable Wikipedian, pl:Peter K. Domaradzki (I'll try to stub Peter K. Domaradzki shortly). I trust the members of this project can take care of the appropriate templates, and such. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 02:47, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Confirmation here. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 21:06, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

User:Telsa

WP:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#user:Telsa I'm already sleep-deprived but will try to deal with this tomorrow if another volunteer can't get to it. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 04:46, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

This obit in the South Wales Evening Post is best source confirming death but others like Gnome.org (fairly reliable) and blog posts further confirm.[4][5][6][7] Google will show many more (but almost all of then are personal tributes that won't be considered reliable). DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 18:25, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Kronf

The obituary for Kronf (on the 2015 page) says that he "naturally (albeit unexplainedly) passed away". I'm not sure that we need that level of detail; it feels like we are trying to speculate or imply something about his cause of death. In addition, few of our obituaries go into detail about cause of death. Would it be better to remove the words "naturally (albeit unexplainedly)" from that obituary? — This, that and the other (talk) 12:22, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

I've boldly made this edit. — This, that and the other (talk) 07:01, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

User:BraneJ

User:BraneJ died. There is a thread on Wikimedia-l mailing list, we were informed when he was critically ill and sent our best wishes. He reportedly read those before his death.
Now, he has 500 something edits on En WP. Should we include his name on /2015 page? -_Tito Dutta (talk) 12:06, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Done. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:06, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

• Great --Tito Dutta (talk) 17:33, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

User: Filceolaire

I'm not sure about editing, and I've seen that someone has marked his user account as a deceased Wikipedian, but I thought I'd add these links here https://www.sfsite.com/news/2016/01/29/obituary-joe-raftery/ and http://file770.com/?p=27316 so that is would be possible that he is added to this list, as obviously a citation is needed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.99.248.2 (talk) 21:12, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

User:BNutzer

To whom it concerns: I saw a notice and condolence list at de:Benutzer:BNutzer / de:Benutzer:BNutzer/Kondolenzliste; he died on 1 February 2016, aged 62. That user, User:BNutzer, had >24,000 edits here since 2005. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 22:48, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Michael Bednarek, can you or someone give his real name and a link to an obituary or a way to contact a family member? I would like to add him to the main WP:RIP page. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 20:30, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

The only information I have is from de:Benutzer:BNutzer/Kondolenzliste where an acquaintance reported the death, based on a conversation with a relative at a Wikipedia meeting. There's also an entry at de:Wikipedia:Gedenkseite für verstorbene Wikipedianer. The editor's real name is not mentioned at either. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 21:56, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Jinnai

Just heard that Jinnai (talk · contribs) has died. Here's a source we can use to confirm his death: [8]. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 05:13, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

I've boldly added it to the page. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 05:45, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Proposed Policy Change

So,

"People in this list have changed English Wikipedia for the better in some way. While generally a few hundred edits is considered reason enough for their inclusion, special circumstances (example) can be taken into account, and how you feel about their efforts to make the world a better place through this project should be considered when placing them here to be remembered."

I would like to discuss changing this policy so that very successful/notorious vandals and trolls such as Willy on Wheels (whose antics led to the creation of new open source additions to wikimedia thus arguably changing it for the better in someway) or that guy who changed the article of someone to say that he was a JFK murder subject, or similar are also permitted to be listed with sensitive wording that neither glorifies their antics nor pretends they did not exist and were not, in their own unique way, a part of the community that called themselves wikipedians. 81.158.100.203 (talk) 17:34, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Disagree. See Wikipedia:Deny recognition - Ahunt (talk) 17:44, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

The rationales for that policy do not apply because the vandal will be dead, unless you believe the vandal will achieve some kind of after life where they are aware of the present life. But if that is the case, they would know what Wikipedians were thinking about their vandalism anyway, so it still wouldn't apply. However, I could see a requirement for a more stringent validation of the death of the vandal. 81.158.100.203 (talk) 18:43, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Well I can think of two problems with this:

1. How will we know that a vandal has died? It's not like they are likely to have friends or relatives here who know about their contributions and will let us know,
2. It will still act as recognition and thus inspiration for future vandals to take up vandalism.

I'm still opposed. - Ahunt (talk) 18:49, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

1. Many succesful and dedicated vandals actually do have friends / relatives in the Wikipedia community. However, if they don't, then they aren't going to be getting a memorial, so it's rather irrelevant!
2. The types who are motified significantly by their memorials after death to the extent of significantly modifying behaviour are more likely to join ISIL to become matyrs than they are to vandalise Wikipedia (not a great analogy but hopefully you see what I mean?).

I appreciate you are still opposed but I don't think that posthumous recogniition is a plausible motifier for 99% of prolific vandals and the 1% that there would be are not a good enough reason to deny the basic human diginity that is deserved by even the most incorrigible vandal, who is often a soul to be pitied rather than feared. 81.158.100.203 (talk) 18:57, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

First off, anyone added to this memorial has to have reliably sourced information proving they passed away. As a result anonymous vandals and trolls would have trouble qualifying b/c most of their deeds are only able to be accomplished when no one knows who they are. Second, nothing is stopping you from creating a vandal and troll memorial elsewhere. But this memorial is for people who positively worked to make Wikipedia a better place.--SouthernNights (talk) 19:05, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

• Oppose vandals. - üser:Altenmann >t 02:26, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Strongly Oppose - There are a range of individuals who have made wikipedia a battleground, and some continue to create myriads of socks and continue to create havoc. Their friends who think it is either awesome or funny claim they provided a better place with their earlier non problematic edits. Trolls need air, all blocked and problematic editors, if they have the misfortune to pass away, should never be memorialised on wikipedia, there is enough rubbish ab out them, giving them air already, they dont need it if they are gone JarrahTree 02:53, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

• Comment I'd say this should be decided on a case-by-case basis. And despite that most of these trolls, vandals & troublemakers do not deserve attention, I think some are notable enough that long-term Wikipedians would be interested to learn that person has died. We don't need an article; just a discussion on this talk page in most cases would be enough. On the other hand, I'm more concerned about the demise of Wikipedians who exercised their right to vanish yet deserve notice here when they die. If any energy is going to be spent over whom to include, those who left deserve more of it than trolls & whatnot. -- llywrch (talk) 19:56, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
• Comment - that would be a challenge, identifying previously "vanished" Wikipedians who subsequently die! - Ahunt (talk) 20:56, 29 January 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose – Vandals, even the goofy and funny ones, are always anti-Wikipedia – they try to damage what we're trying to build. Vandals do not qualify as "Wikipedians". SteveStrummer (talk) 06:39, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Question: Removal of user's watchlist?

Greetings, Wondering if the Guidelines page should mention Remove or delete the user's watchlist? Or is this something that will happen automatically with one of the Bots? Regards, — JoeHebda • (talk) 19:50, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

There's nothing to be removed because a watchlist is only visible to the logged-in user when browsing Special:Watchlist. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 14:44, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

User:Lucia Black

Lucia Black (talk · contribs) passed away on February 7, 2016, according to User talk:Lucia Black#regret to inform and WP:AN#WP:RIP. She has has over 17,000 edits since she came here in 2009. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 19:31, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

I could not find any print sources per the guidelines for this: her username may have been a pseudonym, and we are going by what one IP editor, which we do not seem to know anything about, has posted on the talk page. Looking at her last few edits, I find this depressingly possible, but do not have a firm opinion regarding whether or not she should be added. Double sharp (talk) 15:55, 19 June 2016 (UTC)

(Updated link after archive: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive279#WP:RIP.)

From what I have read (including at a certain site that apparently must not be named), others have emailed her after her last edits here, and have not gotten a reply. Of course, if she used a separate account for Wikipedia email (like I do), then I doubt she would want to have much to do with that account right now. I hope that that's the case, that the IP is just a sick troll, and that she's still alive and focusing on things other than WP – because otherwise, this is horribly sad!

I don't think I'll do any more research about this. Partly because her privacy ought to be maintained, and partly because reading all this has really affected me. But I don't think we should add it, because we know nothing about the IP that has given us this supposed information. Hopefully it is not true and she is experiencing more joy in other projects now. Double sharp (talk) 12:05, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

When I die, will you add this to my page?

I don't know how you'd find out if I'm really dead, but if you do, can I have one on my page, or do I not qualify as a notable contributor? Coolcam6578 (talk) 18:13, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

@Coolcam6578: Right now you don't qualify but as the page indicates "a few hundred edits is considered reason enough for their inclusion". That's not much, honestly. Surely you'll rack up many edits long before you die. As for how we would know, be sure that your obituary says you edited Wikipedia under your username. If that obit is posted online, someone will likely find it. Often, we have family access a Wikipedian's account after the fact and post a link to the obit on the talk page. As for me, I wouldn't make being remembered after you're dead a goal. Contribute to Wikipedia and the larger world (generally speaking) while you're alive and the rest will handle itself. Chris Troutman (talk) 18:55, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

User:James_von_Brunn

This user died but is blocked so should he go here or not? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8444654.stm — Preceding unsigned comment added by Flow234 (talk • contribs) 00:17, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

@Flow234: No, per WP:DENY. Three edits hardly makes that editor a Wikipedian and as WP:MIA is to recognize editors who had an impact on the community and left of their own accord, this list is for Wikipedians taken from us by death, not cranks who were banned and subsequently died. Chris Troutman (talk) 01:21, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Ok thank you Flow 234 (Nina) talk 10:17, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

User:Kevin Gorman

See here ThePlatypusofDoom (talk) 00:20, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Added, thank you. he will be missed. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:36, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Possibly bogus entry

I have just removed an entry for an editor where there was no evidence of their passing; their user page has not been memorialised. They also only have five edits on this wiki; and only 22 on other projects. I have also reverted their talk page to the last version prior to similar changes, Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:47, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

KageTora

User:KageTora has died. I don't really hang around out here but it disturbs me a little to know that people might try to talk to him without knowing...

http://www.bmdsonline.co.uk/liverpool-echo/obituary/givnan-colin/47469103

His talk page verifies his surname was Givnan, though I don't know if that's enough... 82.4.218.94 (talk) 17:18, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

His talk page uses both his alleged first and last names at various points. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:45, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Haven't found a way to contact family but there are several on=line obit's to reasonably confirm his death. I added him and will expand or change if requested by family or someone who knew him personally. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 19:46, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Purodha

Sadly, Tod von Bruno “Purodha” Blissenbach passed away in August 25, 2016 after a serius health breakdown. See also Translators-l message. Eduardogobi (talk) 02:51, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

Gwil

It saddens me to bring this to your attention: User:Gwil's edits may not have been many but his Statoids website was a one-of-a-kind resource cited on over 4000 Wikipedia pages – we even had a template for that. An irretrievable loss. Cobblet (talk) 02:34, 24 September 2016 (UTC)

User:JohnCD

I have received a talk page message concerning administrator User:JohnCD's death a few days ago. Administrator User:Nyttend is seeking verification so in line with the guidelines, this should not be posted until it is confirmed. Donner60 (talk) 05:34, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

It's been confirmed unfortunately by Keri on the thread open at WP:AN that John has sadly passed away. Class455 (talk|stand clear of the doors!) 15:00, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

As John's son I'd quite like to fill this out a little bit and make it less 'needs confirmation'. I'll put some proposed text here and maybe someone with appropriate privileges could help us to edit the page? -Robert Deas

Rcbutcher

User:Rcbutcher has passed away, based initially on correlation of knowledge of the real person with their Wiki profile and contribution history. I also emailed the user via Wikipedia and his email address I had on my records from when I was President of Wikimedia Australia, with no response, and no subsequent edits occurring, which is extremely rare for Rcbutcher who edited daily almost without fail and has 275,053 edits in total with 43,314 locally here on English Wikipedia - the majority being on Wikimedia Commons. John Vandenberg ^(chat) 06:23, 9 June 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Obituary nominated as RfD

Wikipedia:Obituary and other similar redirects are discussed at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2017 June 18#Wikipedia:Obituary, where I invite you to join in. --George Ho (talk) 15:43, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

User:Steifer

We were notified of the passing of this user via RfPP [9]. He has contributed considerably to the Polish Wikipedia as well as Commons and has been an occasional guest, with a small number of contributions, on the English Wikipedia. As I do not often visit this page, it is unclear to me whether he should be listed. Any second opinions are appreciated. In any case, I'll express here, on behalf of the community, our gratitude for his contributions. While I did not have the privilege to interact directly with this user, seeing a little of his talk page and contributions suggests someone who was well liked, and who motivated and supported others in making positive contributions. Samsara 12:41, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Elliot Rodger?

User The Diaz insists that deceased user ElliotR1 (Elliot Rodger, allegedly) should be included in this page. Quoting from the project page:

People in this list have changed English Wikipedia for the better in some way. While generally a few hundred edits is considered reason enough for their inclusion, special circumstances (example) can be taken into account, and how you feel about their efforts to make the world a better place through this project should be considered when placing them here to be remembered.

The Diaz, can you please elaborate on how you think ElliotR1 fits in the above category? He only made twenty, disruptive edits, which were all reverted and got him an indefinite block, not to mention his 'special circumstances' of being a psychopathic mass-murderer. This is not a list of all deceased WP account holders; it's a proper memorial to all who made the world a better place through the pages of Wikipedia. --Deeday-UK (talk) 19:17, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

I reverted. Per WP:DENY, we don't give vandals press. Someone with a vandalism-only history is no Wikipedian, let alone one worth remembering. Chris Troutman (talk) 19:28, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

Breymayer

User Breymayer has died on 13. August 2017; see http://www.stuttgart-gedenkt.de/traueranzeige/reinhard-breymayer & Reinhard Breymayer. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 01:10, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

User:Stilltim-Stillman Westbrook

Hi-I just found out that User:Stilltim (Stillman "Tim" Westbrook) died from cancer on October 5, 2010; Tim Westbrook I did find an obituary for Stillman Westbrook Stillman Westbrook-obituary. However, the entry in Mike Musing's blog confirmed that Stillman Westbrook was User:Stillman. Thank you-RFD (talk) 21:00, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

User:Allen3

This is sad: User:Allen3—William Allen Peckham—died on December 30, 2016; William Allen Peckham-Thank you-RFD (talk) 20:30, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for letting us know, RFD. BlueMoonset (talk) 21:41, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

(JohnCD)

As far as I can tell, (JohnCD) passed away in 2017, not 2016. Shouldn't his entry/page be moved to the appropriate year? — Preceding unsigned comment added by FROZYO! (talk • contribs) 06:54, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

Where are you getting that from? He died on 30 December 2016. ‑ Iridescent 19:45, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Frank "Onno" Braun (Frankonno)

What's with the "to good to be true" comment in the footnote? Chuck Entz (talk) 01:25, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

@Angelo6397: This is your edit. Care to explain? Chris Troutman (talk) 01:31, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

Full cascading page protection only to deceased wikipedian admins or so?

I know that please give certain deceased wikipedian staff/admin/bureaucrat a full cascaded protection that admins can only edit. Registered users attempting to vandalize the deceased wikipedian staff/admin/bureaucrat would be blocked indefinitely and have the page of deceased wikipedian staff/admin/bureaucrat fully protected by admin to avoid further abuse and vandalism. 124.106.137.103 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:46, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

Has this been a problem in the past? If not, why only deceased staff? Double Plus Ungood (talk) 02:13, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

It's not been a problem in the 10+ years I've been an admin. We do sometimes protect deceased editors' talkpages; that's not to prevent vandalism, but to prevent their talkpages filling up with good-faith questions from editors who aren't aware they're deceased. ‑ Iridescent 23:39, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

User:Adrian~enwiki

Someone should probably make a short biography for Adrian~enwiki aka Adrian Lamo. — Moe Epsilon 21:42, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

User:Lankiveil

See Australian Wikipedians' notice board and User talk:Lankiveil. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 02:04, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

@Kerry Raymond and Michael Bednarek: Would it be too much to ask that we get some proof of this? I'm concerned with how easily we list editors dead with the flimsiest of evidence. I'm sure each of you would appreciate not be claimed dead before your time. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:43, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

I did not announce it until I had confirmed it with a family member as I share your concern about the importance of verification. Kerry (talk) 06:17, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

Photos

Hi, Currently at Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/2018 we have images all of which overlap the sections and also create huge white blank areas - Is this generally fine or should there be a few images only?,
It obviously has issues having them all but on the otherhand the page is a shrine sort of so I don't really know,
As I already removed an image (which was added back months ago) I don't want to appear disrespectful by removing it (or them) again so thought I'd get clarification, Thanks, –Davey2010^Talk 23:42, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

It should be slightly better now, with proper thumbnail scaling. --Deeday-UK (talk) 00:18, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

On a large screen, the images are still much longer than the text. Format the text? Insert them below the person's header? Make them much smaller? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:28, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

For example

Krzysztof Machocki

(1981–2018)

(Halibutt)

Spokesperson of Wikimedia Polska, mentor of new users and Education Programs, passed on 31 January 2018, aged 36, after a couple of weeks of illness.

Condolences may be left here.

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:24, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

That looks nice. I suppose all entries on a page should be formatted that way though, whether or not a photo is present. Ideally all the code should be turned into an easy-to-use template, but I don't know how to do it right now. --Deeday-UK (talk) 12:20, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

Sorry only just seen this this but Gerda Arendt that actually looks perfect! :), That would solve all issues and more probably :),

Deeday-UK - You me both!, If I even attempted to do this it wouldn't go well at all! , Thanks, –Davey2010^Talk 14:01, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

User:Corinne

See User talk:Corinne#You will be missed and [10]. Double sharp (talk) 14:14, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

I've added a short obituary for her. Double sharp (talk) 04:52, 29 April 2018 (UTC)

user:Markhurd

User:Markhurd passed away in September 2017. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 13:38, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

Deceased notable Wikipedians

If User:Idabella123 is Isaac Abella, as is alleged in the talk page template and at Wikipedia:Wikipedians with articles#A, then this user is deceased and has been since October 2016. —Nøkkenbuer (talk • contribs) 04:57, 12 August 2018 (UTC); revised 07:21, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

Likewise with User:Tomvf as Tom Van Flandern. I may go through those listed at Wikipedia:Wikipedians with articles to do some {{Connected contributor}} tagging and find whether any others may be deceased. If any others may be, I will post them here, unless anyone lets me know that I should not. I understand that these users may not meet the thresholds for mention, but their accounts should probably be cleaned up and locked anyway. —Nøkkenbuer (talk • contribs) 07:21, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

I don't think there is a requirement to be notable and I think to have people arguing over whether or not a deceased contributor was notable would be in very poor taste. If we are aware of the passing of a contributor, we should respectfully acknowledge their passing and take appropriate action on their accounts. Kerry (talk) 03:43, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Perhaps I have misunderstood you, but nothing I said above has to do with notability, Wikipedia-defined or otherwise. I am simply noting that some Wikipedians, whose activity were almost nonexistent and who are alleged to be certain persons on whom we have articles, appear to be deceased on the basis of the aforementioned information.

My concern about inclusion, which in retrospect seems odd to me, was mainly about the fact that these are old cases with edit counts below 50. Moreover, those were my first posts here and it was unclear to me whether there is a threshold for "deceased Wikipedian" beyond "user with zero or more edits who has verifiably died at any point". It seems the latter are the criteria for inclusion, though, so I recommend adding these accounts to the list so long as they pass the verification guidelines. Or is a statement about being a Wikipedian necessary? Lastly, I apologize for being unclear before. —Nøkkenbuer (talk • contribs) 20:42, 22 September 2018 (UTC); edited at 20:51, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Nothing at WP:OUTING says it would be a good idea to play connect-the-dots regarding the identity of editors if they might be deceased. Of course notability has nothing to do with this page. Johnuniq (talk) 04:55, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

I do not see how it is even reasonable to consider viewing a public list of notable Wikipedians, checking the articles about them for sourced death dates, and listing those findings here to be outing. In this case, the information would be on those articles, and the connection between the subject and their Wikipedia account would already be documented on that page (and perhaps in the article's talk page, as well). The latter is closer to outing, yet that would already be extant for months or years before I checked. In principle, I don't even need to perform a web search; it is all out in the open on Wikipedia. Anything I discuss under such circumstances would not be outing whatsoever. If it is, then I recommend deleting that list as an outing page and suppressing each of its nearly 1,800 revisions since it was created. —Nøkkenbuer (talk • contribs) 20:42, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

User:Daicaregos

Apparently died in June 2018 - see notice from Jeanne boleyn on his user page, and confirmation on Leanne Wood's Facebook page here and on Twitter (search under the name Dai Barnaby). Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:28, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

CoppBob

This user passed away recently - here is his obituary. Note that the obit specifically states that he edited Wikipedia. 67.83.118.216 (talk) 07:24, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, indeed all details match. This is sad. I fully protected his user page.--Ymblanter (talk) 07:48, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

User:Lady Arachnophile

I just discovered that Mandy Howe, known as Lady Arachnophile (talk · contribs), passed away in 2016. [11],[12]. While her Wikipedia contributions were rather limited (less than 200 edits), she helped in identifying spider images and correcting taxonomy here, and uploaded several useful images to Commons. She was apparently more active in other online educational projects, namely BugGuide and SpiderID, the precursor of which she co-founded. I didn't know Mandy Howe, but she volunteered her time to make knowledge a little more free, and for that we should be thankful. --Animalparty! (talk) 07:36, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

User:Medeis

I'm just curious as to why this user isn't listed on this project page. If I recall correctly, this user died in March 2018; the deceased templates have been added to their user and user talk pages and User:Medeis was fully protected by SarekOfVulcan in September. Are there no reliable sources to show this is 100% certain? Do we not know who this person is outside of Wikipedia? I'm hesitant to add this person to the project list as I've done before with others, and due to the lack of discussion on-wiki about Medeis. Any input is appreciated (please ping me in your responses). Thanks - ~Oshwah~^{(talk) (contribs)} 08:58, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

@Oshwah: Oh no, I had no idea this happened! I remember interacting with this user on WP:ITNC a few years ago when I was regularly active there and I certainly hope they're not dead. I cannot determine what their real name is, but it appears that the now-retired Miss Bono was friends with Medeis IRL and received Medeis's family's permission to add the RIP template to Medeis's user and talk pages around last September (see here; it also appears that Medeis's death was "a few months" before last September). IntoThinAir (talk) 01:40, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi, I am sorry I haven't been following this discussion. I don't know what other reliable source can I provide other than I have their family's permission to place the RIP template. I am not allowed to disclose any of Medeis' personal details. Thanks. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 15:21, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

I've never known Miss Bono to be anything but sincere. Does Medeis' real name have to be known before posting an entry here? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:10, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

If a person hides behind an anonymous "handle", then how are we suppose to know for a fact that a real obituary is that person? • Sbmeirow • Talk • 18:00, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

That's a good point. In the case of Medeis, they've not been heard from in 11 months, so at the very least, they're not on Wikipedia anymore. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:20, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Agree, but numerous people have quit editing, and that doesn't automatically mean they are ALL dead now. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 23:56, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Nor do we know, except for those who have an informant. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:41, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 February 2019

I think this page violates MOS:EUPHEMISM… 103.101.16.186 (talk) 09:09, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Deceased is somewhat US-centric but I can't see Dead Wikipedians, erm, flying. Or are you referring to mentions of passed away in the text? - Sitush (talk) 09:12, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

I don't see any "passed away" occurrences in the article. There are one or two on the talk page, but so what? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:20, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Passed away appears in some entries about individuals who are listed. I don't like it but they're not articles, so I doubt anyone really cares. I'm certainly not fussed enough to care. - Sitush (talk) 11:33, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Deceased is somewhat US-centric? It is certainly common parlance in the UK to describe a dead person and I totally disagree that it is euphemistic in any way. If it is good enough for emergency services, courts and coroners reports, it is good enough for en-wiki. Surprised if it is not the same in any predominantly English speaking country. "passed away" is of course a euphemism. Leaky caldron (talk) 12:12, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

I won't labour the point as I was trying to work out what aspect the anon was unhappy with. Suffice to say, you won't find deceased used anything like as often as dead in the UK or most former UK colonies, which unfortunately means some massive number of countries, outside of formal/legalistic circumstances, whereas in the US it appears in obituaries and all sorts of other less formal situations. In terms of this set of pages, as I suggested, it really doesn't matter and deceased certainly has a better ring to it in these circumstances. - Sitush (talk) 14:00, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Considering that the U.S. has a population of 330 million it is no surprise it is used more frequently. That does not, IMO, make it "US-centric", whatever that means. And yes, it clearly has a better ring to it. Leaky caldron (talk) 14:22, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

MOS:EUPHEMISM applies to articles. This is not an article. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:31, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

User: Bruce Mouser

User: Bruce Mouser died in December 2018.La Crosse Public Library Archives-A Tribute To Dr. Bruce Mouser Bruce Mouser taught at University of Wisconsin–La Crosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He started the article about George Edwin Taylor and it was the only article Dr. Mouser started. Is it possible to include Bruce Mouser in the list of Deceased Wikipedians? Thank you-you-RFD (talk) 16:07, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

User:Bruce.Mouser; 4 edits since 2010-10-21, last edit on 2012-10-03. That doesn't meet the threshold for inclusion. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:45, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

Thank you-RFD (talk) 18:12, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

User:Aboluay

Hello. User:Aboluay (Anas Eljamal) died on 17 July 2019 (his son post) --Alaa :)..! 14:56, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Might we have a better source than a Facebook post? Chris Troutman (talk) 16:02, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

@Chris troutman: unfortunately no, previous F.B post by his only son, also other Arabic Wikipedia community confirmed that --Alaa :)..! 21:47, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Fylbecatulous?

See here? - Sitush (talk) 02:33, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

Weird, they apparently died last November and their user and talk pages here have the RIP template on them. So it's odd that they haven't been added here nor has anyone posted about their (apparent) death (no sources I could find) on their user talk page. IntoThinAir (talk) 21:51, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

Simplewiki post. :/ — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 13:24, 16 May 2019 (UTC)

I have left a talk page request to her son asking for a link to an obit so we can have her added to the noticeboard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dusti (talk • contribs) 03:39, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

Her son responded with a link to this page. I suggest this can now be added. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:44, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

Memorials for users who left 'under a cloud'

I have just removed an entry, that was added today by User:CAWylie for someone who was indefinitely blocked in 2011, for making legal threats and vandalism. I'd value third-party views about whether such an entry should be included here; but even if it is, we should not pretend they were still active contributors in the years after such a block. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:00, 11 August 2019 (UTC)

I support that removal. As I understand it, the point of this and WP:MIA is tracking valued editors who are no longer editing. Those that were blocked or banned already have their disposition with the community and the degree to which those editors are dead isn't important. Further, many editors celebrate the lives of those deceased; an editor we had to force out of the community isn't deserving of being listed. Chris Troutman (talk) 20:50, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

thank you Comment

Dear fellow Wikimedians,

I am grateful of your leadership in creating this morning corner. Thank you for the touching tribute of those gone but their words will not be forgotten.

--Geraldshields11 (talk) 12:42, 28 August 2019 (UTC)

User:Gnu32

Gnu32 has passed away. I've known Gnu since about 2004; he and I were both members of the Active Worlds platform. GSK (talk • edits) 20:34, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Raymond Arritt (Shock Brigade Harvester Boris)

Hi I made a change to Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2018 [13] removing the "last week" part in reference to the stroke. The wording I choose is similar to our article and while I don't know why it was done there, I'm not sure the "last week" part is correct. While it is used by the source [14], the source is dated 19th November which is a Monday so the first or second day of a new week. SBHS last edited on the 12th (his time). It seems more likely to me that the source was just confusingly worded and last week actually referred to the week before its date so the same week of his passing rather than a week before it. Maybe those familiar with Raymond Arritt will know more details, but I don't think it matters, and our new wording is similar to this other source [15] Nil Einne (talk) 21:34, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

User:Brianboulton

Ten days ago, @Izno: added an entry for Brianboulton to the TOC but never posted an actual section to the 2019 page. What do you think? ミラP 02:09, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

Didn't know him in any detail. You may of course add such a section yourself. --Izno (talk) 14:50, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

You can simply say that he was the best editor, - summary of his talk page. I don't dare to. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:02, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

@Gerda Arendt: You might just be the best to do so. ;) --Izno (talk) 18:35, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

I'd think of SchroCat who was informed by the family. I said a bit here, but that's my humble pov. Voceditenore said some more here: "we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude, not only for his wonderful Featured Articles on operas and their composers, but also for his unfailingly civil and patient interactions with our members and his true collaborative spirit. He was and remains a truly irreplaceable Wikipedian." --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:58, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

New drafts page set up

Hi. I have set up a new page for drafts. the set of drafts currently being shown there are those for user:Brianboulton, but we can always add more if we wish.

The drafts lists and subpages are shown at the page that is linked to below. thanks.

• Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/Drafts

thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 03:25, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Just a passing comment to say that I dont understand why you've made everything so complicated, and why you've created so many redirects. Maybe I'm missing something, but I was envisaging I would see just one new index page. Within that, there might be:

• An introductory statement with guidance how to proceed, and an exhortation to 'adopt' a page to enhance;
• A list of links to each sandbox page (no need to link to pages with no retrievable content);
• A summary of the contents of retrievable pages, and their apparent readiness/work still needed;
• A space for editors to indicate if they're going to 'adopt' and work on a page, and where that will be located.
• An indication of when each page has been dealt with and moved to mainspace.

Right now, it all seems as clear as mud. Nick Moyes (talk) 09:33, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps Sm8900 should signing up at Wikipedia:Mentorship ..as they can help Sm8900 in understanding some basic protocols and social norms here. They have a great reputation of getting editors on the right track.--Moxy 🍁 12:34, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Yup, mentorship is required, for Sm8900. GoodDay (talk) 17:54, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

lol! Cura te ipsum!!! is what i have to say!! always nice to hear from you guys. thanks!!! cheers!! --Sm8900 (talk) 18:31, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

hey Nick Moyes look what you started here. --Sm8900 (talk) 18:23, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Moxy!! I will definitely give that some thought. that sounds interesting. thanks!!

Nick Moyes if that is what is wanted, that's fine. so then why doesn't someone should do that, i.e. all of those steps?

what i did was go through each draft individually, and rename them to give a full idea as to what their contents actually are. isn't that a better option than simply having them named "Sandbox1," "Sandbox2," "sandbox3", etc etc? I'm truly asking this as question. I am open to any feedback that you may have. thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk)

I have given what feedback I can, and in the time that I have available! Right now, I seem to be following you around trying to give helpful feedback in all sorts of areas you're been desperate to help in. Stick to one thing; discuss first; wait/think; fix it carefully; then move on. Sometimes it's better to do nothing than to rush in and make a mess of things. This might help you understand what I mean. Nick Moyes (talk) 14:57, 13 February 2020 (UTC) 

@Nick Moyes: That's totally fine. I do greatly appreciate your considerable insights and help. your thoughts and feedback are always welcome. If the above are suggestions are what you wish me to do, I am happy to adopt them. Please note though, I did this effort on my own initiative, because no one else seemed willing to do so. I took on the effort to work on this request, when it was about to be ARCHIVED BY A BOT and thereby consigned to obscurity. My efforts are what is keeping this request active and current.

I am fully open to your insights and feedback, as you know. So therefore, it is only because I'm aware of your great gentility, goodwill and courtesy that I feel safe in making one request of you, if I may; your statement "clear as mud" is simply impeding quality discussion between us, when you are someone whose insights I hold in high regard. May I kindly ask if you could please rephrase, clarify or withdraw that phrase? with anyone else, I wouldn't even try to ask for their understanding in this manner. that is just a suggestion, not a demand in any way; I hope you will understand my reasons and my genuine respect for you in asking that.

As far as your other points above, I would be more than happy to adopt any and every single one if your points above. please bear in mind though, if that stuff was not done previously, it is not due to any omission of my own; I simply took a set of draft pages that no one else was working on, and made sure they were refined to enable others to work on. I am not able to understand why I am having all this negative feedback on this simple effort, instead of the simple activity from others to implement whatever steps they feel are missing, which I would greatly welcome.

I hope the points above seem reasonable to you. Please feel free to be as blunt and as candid as you may wish in your reply. I find all of your points to be invariably helpful, insightful, and worthwhile. you are absolutely welcome to express any criticisms you may have of any actions so far. I may ask you to be more constructive, but that is only so that our discussion can proceed at length, and I can benefit from the many valuable insights that you have to offer. thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk) 15:33, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

@Nick Moyes: I have now implemented ALL of the points that you requested above, regarding formatting and structure of the drafts and the project space. the only suggestion not implemented was the one for a statement to interested editors,asking for their involvement; I felt that might be better-written by someone else here. I welcome any thoughts or comments that you may have once you view the current finished product. I appreciate all of your highly-valuable thoughts, insights and suggestions above. Please feel free to comment any time if you wish. thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk) 17:27, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Thank you - much appreciated. I have struck my comment on clarity now that you've taken the suggestions on board, and have implemented them..Nick Moyes (talk) 07:57, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

thanks! I'm glad to hear that. glad we could work together, to set this up as a resource for our community, and make it something workable and useful to others. thanks very much. see you. --Sm8900 (talk) 16:08, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Continuing the work

Can we create a subpage of this project to collect links to unfinished drafts and the like left by deceased Wikipedians? I would like to think that when a Wikipedian dies with work underway, that we would try to finish it, both to honor their contribution and to avoid letting good research go to waste. I occasionally leave notes to this effect at the Village Pump, but that is rather like yelling into the void. I think a single dedicated page would be likely to draw more interest and complete more work. BD2412 T 04:26, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

yup, I agree. I have now set up a page like the one you request, based on your idea. I appreciate your note. thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk) 18:47, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Building on one editor's numbered drafts

User:Brianboulton left a group of numbered drafts on his page User:Brianboulton/Sandbox. what is the best way to enable other editors to work on these more easily? is it okay to rename these drafts, to indicate the subject and focus of each draft, and then provide a list of all of these drafts, showing the focus of each one? I did one rename and set up a list as an illustration, at User:Brianboulton/drafts.

Please advise. I am open to any views and opinions on what would be the best way to proceed. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 04:39, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

below are the contents of this page:

Links: Links:

• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox2
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox3
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox4
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox5
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox6
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox7
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox8
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox9
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox10
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox11
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox12
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox13
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox14
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox15
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox16
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox17
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox18
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox19
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox20
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox 21
• User:Brianboulton/Sandbox 22

thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 04:39, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Should we say something about etiquette in moving and page creation?

In light of what I am seeing above....we should make it clear that moving and creating new sub pages in a deceased user's namespace is inappropriate...all in the spirt of Wikipedia:Protection policy#Deceased users...page creation and moving should be handled with care ( If not outright restricted).--Moxy 🍁 05:08, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

I think this depends on the circumstances. For example, I finished User:Allen3's draft and moved it to Owls club (Tucson, Arizona). To do otherwise would, in my view, fail to live up to the GFDL. I would find it odd to create the page under my own name and then refer to a userspace draft history, when that history can be kept with the page. BD2412 T 05:31, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

I am interested in continuing their development. I have already begun to do so for this draft. there is an existing article at Wikipedia for this composer, so that is where this excellent and extensive material belongs. I plan to add it to the article in the next day or two. --Sm8900 (talk) 12:42, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

(ec)Agree ...as said "handled with care" not for a collaboration effort as seen above. To be honest I have always felt drafts should be completed as you did (great work)....but the last version by the deceased user should remain intact (not moved). In my view the whole deceased users namespace (including talk) should be frozen in time as a tribute /memorial/record after condolences are added.--Moxy 🍁 05:46, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

I totally agree with the comment above that is timestamped as of 5:31 pm UTC.. I could never move any such draft to a page under my own name. I moved it to remain under this editor’s user name, so that the history would remain with the page, as you rightfully recommend. Thanks. —Sm8900 (talk) 05:38, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

I am getting more and more concerned with your ability to understand whats going on in multiple talks your in.--Moxy 🍁 05:50, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

@Moxy, BD2412, and Johnbod: as per the discussion at this mfd discussion, Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/User:Brianboulton/drafts, and the comment there by Johnbod, I have been asked to move the drafts to my own user space if i wish to work on them, and to leave the draft documents that are in user:Brianboulton's user space unchanged. is that okay with others here? thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 15:04, 10 February 2020 (UTC )

Of course there is something of a contradiction here. Unless anyone know a technical work-round, the edit history can only be in one place, the new page if it is moved, and the BB page if it is copied. In a way I think the first is better. I imagine BB would have liked his work to be continued. Johnbod (talk) 15:15, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

well, I would be honored to do so. and don't forget, doing so would automatically create a redirect for each and every draft page that is being moved, for any other editors who may come along. and also, i will be creating a fully visible sub-directory, for all pages that I move, so a list of them can be viewed easily to find them. i would be happy to leave a link to that list on the sandbox page for user:Brianboulton, so that others can find it.

would that be okay with everyone here? thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 15:20, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Nick Moyes asked some great questions at the MfD that is referred to above. I have posted my answer to him there. it is relevant to this thread here. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 20:30, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Proposal

For the avoidance of confusion, I propose that interested editors consider the merits of creating a sub-page of this page for each deceased person whose incomplete sandbox work you'd like to see enhanced and eventually moved to mainspace. That subpage could contain an index, linking to all of the deceased Wikipedian's subpages containing potentially useful content, allowing one or many editors to sign up and indicate their willingness to pick up on individual topic(s) to enhance. By signing up to work on a page, it would avoid two editors accidentally working in parallel, and it would avoid the 'all or nothing' situation that appears to be arising above. Most importantly, it would avoid the need for any direct editing or moving of the former editors' sandbox pages, and clearly show what progress was being made in respecting that person's ambition to add new content to the encyclopaedia.  Nick Moyes (talk) 20:51, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

• Agree, with one addition. ok, thanks for your great proposal above. however, I thought we were going to also include enabling editors to rename the pages...?? if a page is just a numbered sandbox, there is nothing wrong with re-naming it to enable others to see the topic of that page more clearly, is there?

my idea on this goes right along with your idea to create an index for all sub-pages. renaming each sub-page will only enhance the ability for other editors to use that index, to find the drafts and the topics that they wish to work on. --Sm8900 (talk) 22:11, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Agree sub pages here....no need to move pages just for fun....use links to sanboxes with a descriptive hyperlink. Best to not mess about in any userspace especially a deceased person. So yes links here....no to pointless moves.--Moxy 🍁 02:45, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

If someone has started a draft in userspace, I find it hard to imagine that their intent in the event of their death is that the draft should remain there forever. Perhaps what we need is something along the lines of a Wiki last will and testament, where editors can expressly state what they would prefer to happen in such an instance. I for one would like any drafts posthumously left in my userspace (or, obviously, in draft space) to be finished and moved to mainspace, with their edit history intact. BD2412 T 02:57, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

Agree....what I think is there is no need to move drafts around in the same users space. Zero need for redirect after redirect.--Moxy 🍁 03:11, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

That I also agree with. BD2412 T 03:28, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

ok, that sounds reasonable enough. no problem. so if that is the case, then I assume it is fine provide a redirect to the article to give it a clearer title as a draft, if I make that draft a subpage in a different name space; such as, for example, a subpage of the page that we are currently on, or else any other name space that is separate from that individual editor's user space. that sounds totally fine, no problem. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 03:51, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

No don't create unless redirects....pls try to minimize the useless pages you create. ....use links [[Swiss cheese| My favourite cheese I put on everything]].--Moxy 🍁 04:20, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

a piped link with a different name does not provide ongoing data that can be viewed elsewhere regarding the draft's topic, does not illuminate anything, and does not help future editors viewing the page. a redirect would do so. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 05:16, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

What...all wrong ? pls dont make random pages in dead peoples namespace.....as per ALL above.--Moxy 🍁 07:51, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

that is not what I am suggesting. you were not listening to what I stated above. I specifically said that any new items that I create would be in a different name space, not in the name space for any deceased Wikipedians. I do appreciate your reply, and your input here. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 14:03, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

Hi @Nick Moyes: Okay, I have set this up now. it is at this page:

• Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/Drafts/Brian Boulton --Sm8900 (talk) 21:45, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

Really suggest you get guidance before making 50 more redirects like Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/Drafts/Brian Boulton/sandbox 4 Simplified version of the Guidance essay on FAC source reviewing.--Moxy 🍁 22:58, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

"I for one would like any drafts posthumously left in my userspace (or, obviously, in draft space) to be finished and moved to mainspace, with their edit history intact". Here here. If I had unfinished drafts left behind when I passed, I would very much like to see them completed and moved to mainspace with my edit history attached, and certainly not copy and pasted somewhere. I'd be surprised if many editors feel differently. --kingboyk (talk) 13:52, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

• Agree with the idea of a worklist, disagree that deceased user's sandbox drafts should not be edited in good faith with a view to moving them to mainspace, per the reasons I've expressed above and per WP:OWN. --kingboyk (talk) 14:12, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

thanks, @Kingboyk:! I appreciate your positive words and input. yes, that is what we are trying to accomplish here. any input to help us to build this resource on behalf of our community is most welcome.

and @Moxy: thanks for your feedback re the title length. to answer your comment, these are working drafts, not articles. So the criteria, parameters, and best practices for these titles is quite different; our target audience is not the general public, but rather any and all working editors who might happen along here, wishing to help out. we want to give them as much data as we can in regards to the content of each draft, and what they wish to work on.

by the way, please note, I made sure to systematically include all of Brian Boulton's sandbox drafts. even those with simple internal notes, or user records. we all can benefit from the example set by this editor of genuine creativity and eloquence. here's to him. he has truly inspired me, and left a lasting legacy of genuine intellectual creativity. I feel honored and enriched to have played a small role in extending his writings, and making them available to others. this person is our valued and cherished colleague and compatriot in intellectual effort. I will be enriched and inspired by what I have seen of his works and his efforts, for as long as I am active here!!

by the way, if you get a chance, read his work in draft #10 re the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1914. Most of the materials in this draft did make into the existing article for this at Australasian Antarctic Expedition; however, the draft is as good as the article itself, and does have some minute differences. the article statistics show that he added the most text to this article, at 63% of the entire article.

anyway, I am glad that this resource seems to be helpful. I appreciate the help from Nick Moyes in submitting the proposal above, to enable us to move ahead and to reach some kind of consensus on this. I am interested in everyone's input and insights on this, so feel free to be in touch. thanks!!! --Sm8900 (talk) 15:40, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Brian Boulton's Wiki-will

Did Brianboulton request that any work be done to his sandboxes & then sent out into main space? GoodDay (talk) 15:55, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

I will let BD2412 reply to that inquiry. his publicly-posted request was the communication that alerted me to this, and directed me to the user space to view these drafts. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 16:09, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Given that he appears to have died rather suddenly and without warning, it does not appear that he had time to make such a request. Nevertheless, WP:COMMONSENSE suggests that editors do not create sandbox drafts or collections of article materials with either the expectation or the intent that they will be maintained in perpetuity as (likely never seen) monuments to their incomplete efforts. BD2412 T 20:33, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

The first point is just wrong. Many will know that Brian had been in bad health for a long time, and had been reducing his editing, eventually to very little, over a period of years. Johnbod (talk) 01:32, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

This reminds of a scene from the movie Fletch. Nevertheless, editors generally do not start drafts with an intent other than having them become articles. The GFDL requires attribution to all contributors to the article, and it would be silly to have the article history sit in user space and have a cross-namespace notation for it, when we have a button capable of moving the entire history of the work to mainspace. BD2412 T 01:50, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

Moon River....its cold.--Moxy 🍁 13:39, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

Adding a name

Hello,

I just came across a user talk page of a deceased Wikipedian, User:Medeis. However, I don't see an obituary, real name or date of death but it was clearly early 2018. But clearly this was a much beloved editor who made a lot of contributions to the project. Can they be added, maybe going by their last edit date? Thanks. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:10, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

There is a thread at Wikipedia_talk:Deceased_Wikipedians/Archive_2#User:Medeis. Looks like another trusted user had the information but wanted to preserve Medeis's privacy. Seems legitimate to add IMO. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 03:33, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Adding a memorial

I am thinking about adding something here for User:CCShade who passed away several years ago now. He only had a few hundred edits, but I guess that is a lot more than many people ever get? I knew him from another forum and we corresponded so I knew that he was editing on Wikipedia under this username, and when I found out that he died I called his wife and she confirmed that he died, so I wrote this about him on the forum we used together: [16] The links to his online obits don't appear to work anymore, but I found new links: [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] I'm not sure how I would go about adding something for him, or if I even should, but I kind of want to. Any suggestions? BOZ (talk) 15:50, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

@BOZ:, that sounds totally fine. let's get started. I guess my main suggestion would be, perhaps create a draft of what you want to do as a subpage in your own user space; i.e. at a page entitled User:BOZ/CCShade memorial draft, or any other page name that you may wish. Once that draft is in progress, you can let us know at this talk page, and ask for any comments or feedback. also, you are welcome to contact me anytime, as much or as often as you may wish. If I can help with any comments or ideas, I will be glad to do so. Please feel free to be in touch. I am very glad to hear about this idea of yours. any efforts by you in this area are very welcome, and will enrich our entire community. I greatly respect your thoughts and your goals on this, and I appreciate your ideas and efforts on this. thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk) 16:26, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

By the way, you can go to the main page here, and click any of the links for individual years, to view examples of memorials written here for other indviduals. for example, here is the link for 2019: Wikipedia:Deceased_Wikipedians/2019. I hope that's helpful. thanks. --Sm8900 (talk) 16:46, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much Sm8900, I started a draft based on your suggestions. Let me know what you think of that. BOZ (talk) 19:02, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

@BOZ:, that looks fine. thanks for writing that up. that looks good to me. thanks!!! --Sm8900 (talk) 03:34, 16 February 2020 (UTC)

Sm8900, thank you and you're welcome! :) Now what would be the next step? BOZ (talk) 06:08, 16 February 2020 (UTC)

I think that the next step is to add it to the page for that year. If you wish you can wait to see if anyione else might wish to comment, but that is my own thought on this. --Sm8900 (talk) 01:08, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

User:Tsirel

Passed away 21 January: see Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Mathematics#Boris_Tsirelson. Double sharp (talk) 13:50, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

• Added. Kirbanzo ^{(userpage - talk - contribs)} 21:11, 6 March 2020 (UTC)

User:Dmitrismirnov

This user is Dmitri Smirnov's account. He has died from complications from COVID-19 on 9 April 2020. News release from a Russian musical website in Russian: Скончался композитор Дмитрий Смирнов FunksBrother (talk) 01:40, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

In addition, he had an older account before creating his current one: User:Meladina. FunksBrother (talk) 18:09, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

User:Marcus334

Marcus Sherman passed away on 24 April 2020 according to his Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/marcus.sherman also - https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/hyannis-ma/marcus-sherman-9149474 Shyamal (talk) 09:49, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

Not sure why this was not added. Adding it myself. Shyamal (talk) 13:50, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

Quick Question

Does anyone know if a page like this exists on the Hebrew Wikipedia? Thx Idan (talk)

he:ויקיפדיה:ויקיפדים שהלכו לעולמם?--Ymblanter (talk) 15:32, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

@Zvikorn: Anytime you want to find a page in a sister project, look at the bottom of the left sidebar. Links between pages here and other projects are usually linked via WikiData and displayed in that left sidebar. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:35, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

Unblocked deceased users

I was checking the deleted edits of Kwantus when I noticed that their user subpages had been deleted along time ago by MZMcbride, probably by script, because they were orphaned subpages of an indefinitely blocked user. I undeleted them ... and went through all the deceased users until 2011, unblocking them and undeleting all their user subpages that I could work on (I can't undelete CSS/JS pages for the time being), and I don't feel like summoning the intadmins right now for something so relatively trivial. I unblocked them so they would not be misclassified by some other program in the future. Graham87 17:01, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Fixing ping to MZMcBride. Graham87 17:31, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

I've written a message at Wikipedia:Interface administrators' noticeboard#Undeletion request. I found this situation while investigating the early history of I Dream of Jeannie, because I thought there might be missing edits ... turns out that if there are, they probably wouldn't really matter. Graham87 09:28, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi. I can sort of understand the rationale of indefinitely blocking deceased users, but it also seems like a goofy idea. Thanks for unblocking. I personally don't see the value in restoring pages such as User:Kwantus/Taylor or User:Kwantus/foo, but you've been here forever and I trust you and I'm certainly not going to try to tell you how to spend your time. :-) And after all, there's a reason you're still an admin here and I am not! I hope you're doing well. --MZMcBride (talk) 16:52, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

My two cents is that accounts of deceased Wikipedians should be blocked as the only possibility for the account being used is if it's compromised. Definitely no need to delete anything in userspace, though (unless they qualify for CSD for some reason). Not like it saves space or does anything positive at all. At worst, they're frozen how the user left them; at best, they could be used by others. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 17:19, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

IMHO userspaces even if blank/unedited shouldn't be deleted - People do substantial work in sandboxes so these sorts of pages imho should be kept/preserved, I don't agree with unblocking users mainly because their account could very well be compromised - To preserve things and to stop things like that happening IMHO they should remain blocked. –Davey2010^Talk 17:39, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Compromised accounts can also be globally locked these days ... but that can/could cause its own stigma as well, so that's probably not a perfect solution either. I wouldn't have a problem if MediaWiki had some kind of "in memoriam" flag for deceased users. Graham87 06:08, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Sorry Graham87 I wasn't having a go, I was just giving my 2p, I certainly do agree that for deceased users there should be a "in memoriam" or a "This account is closed" block. –Davey2010^Talk 18:03, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

I got in trouble way-back-when for doing this, but I still maintain that deceased users' accounts should be blocked or locked after a certain time has passed to prevent compromise. Yes, it's potentially upsetting to friends to see the "this user is blocked" notice, but as long as it's sensitively explained why we're doing it there's considerably less potential than if someone cracks the password and starts posting abuse. I say "after a certain time" because it's not unusual for IRL friends and family to use the log-on to post "thanks for the condolences" messages (yes it's technically misuse but if any admin tried to sanction someone for using someone else's account in those circumstances they'd be desysopped instantly). ‑ Iridescent 15:20, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

The only reason we have user accounts is to write the encyclopedia. If an editor has died, blocking their account to prevent later compromise only makes sense. The stigma only exists in editors' heads, as if blocking an account is only done as a community punishment aimed at a person. FWIW, subpages from deceased editors should be deleted because it is the living, not the dead, that will continue to contribute. Such deletion is not a public denouncement against the former editor. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:57, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Isn't that more or less what I just said? The stigma only comes if the block is clumsily worded and gives the impression that the person was blocked for disruption. On the matter of subpages, it depends on the subpage. If someone has a half-completed article in their userspace, it would be process-for-the-sake-of-process to delete it and prevent someone in future finishing it off; likewise, if someone has a personal biography in a user subpage to prevent their userpage getting too long (example) there would be nothing to be gained by deleting it, and people still might in future want to know more about who that editor was. ‑ Iridescent 16:09, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

I agree we should block as we do, but it would be nice if we could call it something else in these circumstances—"This account has been closed", perhaps, has a fitting sense of finality and closure that would be understood by all—but I'm not sure how that would be achieved. Unless the admin's twinkle set could have a "Is the user still alive?" radio button or something. I guess that might seem a lot of work for no immediate return; still. ——Serial ^# 17:19, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

@Serial Number 54129: At the moment, we don't usually block them. If we did, I wouldn't have touched the accounts. Graham87 17:26, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Of course, sorry, long day. I was probably thinking of the user page protections. Even so, the rest applies: it would still be a more sensitive approach to a "normal" block. Ah well... ——Serial ^# 17:40, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

I'm not doubting it, but @Graham87, where is "we don't do that any more" coming from? This is the RFC which established our protocols for how to handle the death of an editor, which as far as I know has never been superseded by a subsequent discussion (although there may well have been one which I missed), and Blocking the account from future editing had a fairly clear (albeit not overwhelming) majority in support. (Blocking the account from future editing after a suitable amount of time has passed also had a majority in support, albeit narrower than the support for blocking immediately.) ‑ Iridescent 18:54, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

@Iridescent: Hmmm ... I'm not sure either, now. That wording was in the first version of the guidelines after the closure of the RFC by Bibliomaniac15 (see their contribs around that time). Perhaps they saw the lack of an overwhelming majority as a no consensus result. Graham87 03:32, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

I completely forgot that I closed that discussion, but granted my memory of a lot of things that happened 11 years ago is hazy. Looking at it, I probably read it as no consensus. I do remember that back in those times, the issue of what exactly to do when a user passed away was never conclusive (those first two diffs that Ched provided are pretty good examples), which prompted the RFC. Sometimes people blocked, sometimes people didn't, and I suppose if they were blocked no one felt strongly enough to wheel war over it (thankfully). bibliomaniac15 05:11, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

User:Jude12

Judy Dyble has died, see BBC news story, and the Fairport Convention website (click "The Band" then it's the story headed "Judy Dyble R.I.P."). Her Wikipedia identity is Jude12 (talk · contribs) but has no user page. What is the proper procedure for using {{Deceased Wikipedian}}? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:54, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

Redrose64, I think you can create the page if required Ed6767 talk! 12:14, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Thank you, I've done that. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:14, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

User:Jcw69

Just saw on Facebook that South African contributor and administrator User:Jcw69 (Jerome West) died from COVID-19 on 19 July 2020. See the post here. LefcentrerightDiscuss 14:20, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

Ronhjones

Apparently user:Ronhjones died in a house fire in April 2019 (although we-the-community only learned this in May 2020). Anyone want to write this up? DS (talk) 17:56, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

It is already written up.--Ymblanter (talk) 18:47, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

User:Aditya Kabir Comment

User: Aditya Kabir died on 9 December, 2020. Please see this and this news articles. Also verified by other users who had known him. Thanks!--Dwaipayan (talk) 03:56, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Thank you, it is sad to hear. I added him to the list, but it would be good if someone writes a paragraph about him here--Ymblanter (talk) 08:30, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

User:Majorfun

I tried to set up an RIP for User:Majorfun per WP:DWG, but I don't see his name appear on Category:Deceased Wikipedians. Is it just a matter of changing "{{desceased}}" to {{Deceased Wikipedian}}"? -Thibbs (talk) 16:58, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Oh I figured it out myself. I had tagged the talk page rather than the main userpage. -Thibbs (talk) 15:32, 27 December 2020 (UTC)