MetaTalk

"Meanwhile the internet, as always, provided a sceptical alternative to the reverent coverage of the Queen Mother's death. Too sceptical for some, actually: Americans were among those revolted by certain threads on our own Guardian Unlimited website, where conversations began "Queen Mum Snuffs It" and "She's Dead! Yes!" Over at Metafilter one reader commented acidly: 'You have to be pretty sick to get off on the death of a 101-year old woman. But then, they are Guardian readers...' Oooh get you!"

Metafilter mentioned again in today's 'Web Life' section of 'The Guardian' [more inside]
posted by feelinglistless on Apr 6, 2002 - 22 comments

The "is palegirl dead?" thread was probably not a good idea. I think of rebekah as a friend, though we have only exchanged a few emails over the years here, and I was alarmed (and still am, a little). I imagine other people were worried too. How to handle threads like these?
posted by rodii on Nov 18, 2001 - 47 comments

I'm not knocking the people who posted the threads, but does anyone else feel like every online discussion about a death is really just an excuse for people to mourn their own future demise (complete with overstated praise for themselves and why-God-why lamenting)?
posted by rcade on Jun 29, 2001 - 6 comments