MetaTalk

I am very sad to let the MeFi community know that one of its staunchest supporters and all around good guy digaman (Steve Silberman) has passed away as reported by his spouse on Bluesky. For people who didn't know digaman well, you might know his book NeuroTribes (MeFi post), the Grateful Dead box set he co-produced So Many Roads, or one of his 184 posts to MetaFilter (all from 2010 and before). He was always a great internet friend to me especially lately over on Mastodon and I know I will miss his voice. May his memory be a blessing, we are lucky to have known him.
posted by jessamyn on Aug 29, 2024 - 79 comments

Hi everyone, unfortunately I have some very sad news to share: our fellow mefite Philip Rogosky aka progosk has passed away. [more inside]
posted by bitteschoen on Aug 27, 2024 - 78 comments

Greetings, all. I'm posting to inform you of the death of ricochet biscuit. He passed away last night after a short illness. Michael (or Warren as he was known to some) will be sorely missed. His wife, Wendy, asked me to say a few words and "do him justice." I'm not sure I can, because I don't think words are sufficient. A brilliant man, in both his natural intelligence and his encyclopedic knowledge of, well, just about everything, Michael could always be counted on for an interesting conversation. A polyglot, multi-instrumentalist, D&D (and GURPS!) master gamer, funny, passionate, ethical, and reliable; you couldn't ask for a better friend. Joining in 2008, Michael really loved the metafilter community and often told me how much he enjoyed the lively discussions found here. Funeral and other information to follow.
posted by LoRichTimes on Mar 19, 2024 - 189 comments

Some sad news: MeFite dayan passed away last night. He hadn't been on MeFi for quite a while but hung out in a MeFi spinoff group I'm in and was also really involved in the quizzing and Jeopardy communities and I thought people here might want to know. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn on Sep 25, 2023 - 47 comments

A belated notification to MeFites that Jesse Porter, known to us as boo_radley, passed away in February of this year. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn on Sep 4, 2023 - 126 comments

Longtime mefite scrump has died. [more inside]
posted by tangerine on Aug 15, 2022 - 119 comments

Mefite roll truck roll, a.k.a. Elliot Harmon, has died, age 40. [more inside]
posted by lauranesson on Oct 29, 2021 - 143 comments

MeFite effugas, aka Dan Kaminsky, the sweetest InfoSec guy you could ever know, has died this week. Dan was incredibly giving of his time and knowledge, to MeFi and to the world, and was always around being helpful and making complicated topics easier to understand. He talked about MeFi at DEFCON! He liked us and we (mostly) liked him and I am sorry he is gone.
posted by jessamyn on Apr 26, 2021 - 94 comments

HuronBob, one of the original 17Kers, has died. He was a kind man who often worked to do things that were helpful to other people. He worked for and later ran the Center for Occupational and Personalized Education for most of his adult career, helping younger people who needed a little more help from the public school system. Here is a great comment from Bob about "the good life" and what he felt he needed/wanted in order to be happy. Bob's life was challenging and sometimes difficult, I felt he helped people in AskMe often by being willing to share his struggles. A "Professional Old Guy" and friend of MeFi, he'll be missed.
posted by jessamyn on Oct 25, 2020 - 297 comments

mrbill, a Houston MetaFilter member since 2002, has died. Many of you may remember in 2009 when his wife died suddenly and unexpectedly. Bill was kind, friendly, and generous. If you see his posts here or on Facebook, you'll see a person who gave and gave, without thought to what he got in return. We will miss him and his contributions.
posted by ColdChef on Aug 16, 2019 - 236 comments

Hi everyone. I'm here with a heavy heart to let you know that our beloved MovableBookLady has passed away. I heard the sad news from her best friend, Amy, who took the time to send me a thoughtful reply during this difficult time. From Amy: "She very much enjoyed her relationship with all of you! You were a source of laughter and joy to her! Thank you so much for being part of her life!" [more inside]
posted by rangefinder 1.4 on Jan 21, 2019 - 277 comments

Samizdata's mother let me know that he died last night of a massive heart attack. He was 51. Memorial links, etc. will be provided when they appear. I knew him here and on Twitter, where he was a chatty, thoughtful and supportive presence. I'll miss him a lot. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower on Nov 26, 2018 - 284 comments

There will be an online memorial service for longtime Mefite kmennie [obit post] on Saturday, August 25th from 4 to 5 pm ET. [more inside]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Aug 1, 2018 - 3 comments

I am sad to share that longtime member kmennie passed away on December 26th, 2017. [more inside]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Apr 9, 2018 - 156 comments

My brother and long time user "Bruce H." passed away at his home on 6 January, 2018 and asked me to let folks know so that his contacts would not be left wondering "whatever became of Bruce H.?" He was as the oldest son in a very large family and we all miss him dearly. Thank you all - Kerstin
posted by Bruce H. on Jan 25, 2018 - 133 comments

It seems like there have been more and more obit posts lately. I understand that some luminaries have passed, but is it really necessary to post an obit for every celebrity/musician? Do these posts live up to the "Best of the Web" standard we set for posts to the Blue? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Jan 23, 2017 - 107 comments

A joyous and tearful farewell to MsMolly, a dynamic part of the MeFiBrarian posse. I'd known her briefly in college and then we reconnected doing MeFi Metadata projects and other MeFi nerdery over the past six or seven years. Most recently, after she relocated to Texas to be closer to her family after her cancer diagnosis, Molly became a great postal mail correspondent. While I don't know for certain, I am pretty sure she wrote her own obit. Molly, you were a smiley ray of sunshine in my online life and I was so happy to get to re-know you and work alongside you.
posted by jessamyn on Jan 12, 2017 - 189 comments

Early influential political blogger and longtime MeFite Steven den Beste (also as Steven C. Den Beste) has passed away. A former engineer for Qualcomm and a serious anime fan, he was in poor health and mostly homebound for many years. RIP.
posted by Asparagirl on Oct 24, 2016 - 159 comments

Delivering some sad news: long-time mefite govtdrone has passed away. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Oct 19, 2016 - 144 comments

Sad news this morning: long-time mefite jbickers has passed away at 45. Here's an obituary from WFPL, one of the Louisville public radio stations he'd worked for. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Sep 29, 2016 - 260 comments

ObitFilter - Maybe it's time. Awesome people seem to be dying at an unprecedented rate, and the MetaFilter Front Page is filling up with Obit posts. Frankly, it's getting depressing scrolling the main site and seeing obituary post after obituary post. When someone famous dies we can generally assume that someone will post about it. Why not create a new section for Obituaries Only. This will keep the Main Page from being cluttered up with obituaries all the time, while still providing a space for them. When someone prominent passes, we can post about it "on the black," and when people hear about someone passing they can go to ObitFilter to join in the grieving without being distracted by election posts, cat videos, etc.
posted by Cookiebastard on Apr 24, 2016 - 151 comments

I'm sorry to share the sad news that Lemurrhea passed away yesterday. [more inside]
posted by grouse on Sep 18, 2015 - 343 comments

It saddens me greatly to say that Cheerwine passed away last week. [more inside]
posted by (Over) Thinking on Jul 31, 2015 - 153 comments

Sad news: long-time Metafilter community member edgeways, Edgewood Smith, passed away last week. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jul 21, 2015 - 235 comments

I received an incredibly moving package from my secret quonsar Anitanola this past weekend, and I wanted to share its story here. When I opened the box full of beautiful presents wrapped in ribbon, organza, and silvery tissue paper, it also contained a notecard with “read this last” written on its envelope. I set that aside, and instead read the note on top, which you can see here. It reads:

This is lagniappe! I’m downsizing my stashes and this is a share of the notecards. Maybe you’ll write a note or just pass them on or pitch ‘em! Anita

The package contained an amazing variety of handcrafted and locally-made stationery samples, as well as some charming magnets and art beads. Once I had oohed and ahhed over it all, I obediently opened the sealed envelope last. You can see it here: [front] [back], and here is what it said:

Dear [a fiendish thingy], I’m sorry that this was sent late. Sadly, my mother, Anita Cage, who drew your name in the metafilter “secret santa,” passed away on Monday, Dec 1st, after a long illness. She so appreciated her community of online friends, as she was housebound with considerable mobility issues. Even as she was worsening, however, she was concerned that this reach you, and that I “round out” the package with some locally made artcraft magnets. So I send this as she wished, and on her behalf wish you a fond hello and happy holiday season. [Her son]

I was deeply touched that she had made sending these beautiful gifts such a priority under the circumstances, and I emailed her son immediately to tell him so. In our communications, I asked him if he would like for me to post about Anitanola’s passing on metafilter, and he was relieved that I had offered so that he would not have to figure it out himself. He also sent a link to her obituary (found here), for those of you who wish to read it. She lived a long and inspiring life. Given her extraordinary kindness in helping to make my holiday beautiful even as her health was diminishing, I not only wanted to post to let everyone else know about her passing and her generosity, but I wanted to act on the inspiration of her own note to me. I definitely do NOT want to pitch the lovely notecards she sent, and instead I’d like to offer to send them on to any of you who would like to remember her in a tangible way. You can memail me your address, and that way her stash can wend its way around the world to other mefites in Anitanola’s honor. (This offer is open to anyone who wants one, of course, even if you didn’t know her well— I think she would enjoy the idea of these missives going to as many mefites as possible!) I will also be sending this MeTa post to her son at his request, so if you have any stories about her to share, he will see them here. If any of you want to send a message to him directly, let me know and I will be happy to pass it on. Her passion, humor, and wisdom will be missed.
posted by a fiendish thingy on Dec 9, 2014 - 274 comments

William Frank Revis, also known as wfrgms, has passed away.
posted by grouse on Sep 19, 2013 - 144 comments

It is my sad duty to relate some unfortunate news. Matthew Schuler, known here as Prince of Cups, passed away this morning. [more inside]
posted by mkb on May 13, 2013 - 192 comments

I am very sorry to tell folks that Liosliath has died tragically and unexpectedly. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn on May 2, 2013 - 292 comments

So, my comment suggesting that people not come into the Thatcher thread and say 'As an American, I don't know much about this, but you should probably be more nice about her' was deleted. I imagine the place to put it is here? [more inside]
posted by Acheman on Apr 8, 2013 - 1128 comments

So, we were lied to. The good news is that holdkris99 is fine, rather than dead. He's also banned, his wife's (?) account is banned, and they're not welcome back to Metafilter, ever. [more inside]
posted by cortex on May 22, 2012 - 1281 comments

"We're not going to tell people not to express negative feelings here, but if you must bicker about them, please do it in MeTa." [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Jan 22, 2012 - 189 comments

Kim Jong Il died yesterday and everybody took a long, satisfying shit on his corpse. Some were confused about why was this OK, though. The mods felt this has been explained before and needed no further explanation. I disagree. [more inside]
posted by falameufilho on Dec 19, 2011 - 402 comments

It isn't a mod issue, really, but since there are now functionally two Steve Jobs obit threads, would it be possible or desirable for the community to relocate arguments about his moral worth and/or Apple's products to one rather than the other? [more inside]
posted by running order squabble fest on Oct 31, 2011 - 248 comments

saveyoursanity came into #bunnies yesterday with some terrible news. She had been contacted on Facebook by one of Bob Sarabia's sisters, telling her that bob sarabia, aka puke & cry, aka dead cousin ted has passed away. Dinosaur Jr - Puke & Cry [more inside]
posted by goshling on Sep 16, 2011 - 317 comments

He hasn't been around too much lately, but longtime MeFites may wish to know that Ryland Sanders, aka RylandDotNet, passed away this morning is in hospice care (please read thread for details) [more inside]
posted by Vidiot on Apr 2, 2011 - 238 comments

The obituary says Andrew Charles Bullock, but we knew him as Balisong. Rest in peace, Balisong. [more inside]
posted by mathowie on Feb 4, 2011 - 378 comments

It's with great sadness that I have to share the passing of Bill Zeller, known as null terminated around here. [more inside]
posted by mathowie on Jan 5, 2011 - 773 comments

This is where we discuss the Elizabeth Edwards obit thread. We've done this a few times before, I think.
posted by Avenger50 on Dec 7, 2010 - 130 comments

With Sidhedevil's permission, this is a post about Sidhedevil and her father. [more inside]
posted by John Cohen on Oct 24, 2010 - 90 comments

This is where we discuss the Ted Stevens obit post.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey on Aug 10, 2010 - 185 comments

Filthy light thief's WIP FPP for Frank Frazetta's is a considerably greater tribute and memorial to the man than what I wrote. Can I cede thread content/ownership somehow?
posted by griphus on May 10, 2010 - 29 comments

Cross-posting sad news about Bageena that was misposted to MeFi.... My Name is Tara. My Husband Andrew Press, whom you know as Bageena. Passed away suddenly in his sleep yesterday. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn on Jan 1, 2010 - 385 comments

If you need it, here is a MetaTalk thread to hash out feelings about the Brittany Murphy obit thread.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Dec 20, 2009 - 201 comments

There seems to be a mefi tradition to not speak ill of the dead in obit threads, but what do we do when the obit is for someone abhorrent to the community?
posted by BrotherCaine on Dec 15, 2009 - 148 comments

I got an email from another member letting me know that litterateur, the young woman who posted a few questions to AskMe about her leukemia and its relapse, died at the end of October. Her questions and comments encouraged a lot of us to become bone marrow donors and learn more about marrow donation. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn on Dec 4, 2009 - 157 comments

I am not as dismayed by some as the single-link obitfilter, which we have discussed many times before. But I think they can be done better than this. [more inside]
posted by ricochet biscuit on Oct 20, 2009 - 35 comments

At this point, there are more complaints about the one-link obit to Patrick Swayze in the thread than there are about Swayze himself. If none of you who are whining want to make a better post, how's about whining over here, where such things belong.
posted by grapefruitmoon on Sep 14, 2009 - 109 comments

Sad news: friend and fellow mefite hexxed passed away on Saturday. [more inside]
posted by quin on Jul 31, 2009 - 104 comments

A sad follow-up to last year's post on the Last Lecture: Randy Pausch passed away this morning at the age of 47.
posted by I Said, I've Got A Big Stick on Jul 25, 2008 - 33 comments

Olive Riely has died at age 108. [more inside]
posted by mmahaffie on Jul 13, 2008 - 29 comments