My friend Dana has begun a blog, "User Not Found," to document the ways in which online communities memorialize members who have died in the real world:
Keeping accounts/screennames active serves as a way to memorialize a user without making a large fuss. Sometimes a system admin will opt to change the user's profile, if such a thing is available, to reflect some on the user's involvement with the community and express thoughtful sentiments or quotes. This way, when other users look at these profiles, they are both gently informed of the passing and can personally reflect on their relationship with the deceased. This also prevents future users from unwittingly using the same screenname, which would cause undue confusion and continued grief for people who were close with the person who died. Keeping accounts alive is a thoughtful way to remember a user without making a big, public spectacle of the person's death and allows other users to cope with the loss in a more private, personal manner.
