FB page of a deceased person

[CakeEater]

i am FB friends with a relative whose sister died recently of cancer. FB pops up people who are friends of your friends and suggests you add them, and the deceased sister's profile popped up as someone who I might like to befriend. I didn't know the deceased at all well, but it was still a bit of a shock to see someone pop up when I knew they had died, and I could imagine that for anyone who was close to them, it would be worse still to have their face pop up as 'someone you haven't talked to for a while. Write on her wall!'

I wonder whose responsibility it is to remove such a page? I wonder if it's possible?

[gadget--gal]

I agre it oulod be jarring to have a deceased person pop up in your siggestions box. with regards to remiving a FB page, sometimes people like to be able to view the page of their deceased friend. M young relative died two years ago and his friends and siblings sometimes write on his wall, saying 'Hi' or 'Happy Birthday'.

[LadyPekoe]

Yeah, in my experience, people keep those FB pages going as a sort of memorial.  I think it's nice.  If you don't want the person to show up, hit the little x next to them and they will disappear. 

[StarDrifter]

FB actually have proper channels that the next of kin or family members of a deceased person can go through to either close down the page, or update it so that it says 'In Memory Of' and lists a date of death, plus with options for their friends to put memorial notes on the Wall.

I admit it would be strange seeing that, but unless someone (a family member or friend) TELLS FB that the person is deceased, their profile will continue to behave as if the person is still here.

[kherbert05]

From Facebook's  Privacy policy page


Memorializing Accounts. If we are notified that a user is deceased, we may memorialize the user’s account. In such cases we restrict profile access to confirmed friends, and allow friends and family to write on the user’s Wall in remembrance. We may close an account if we receive a formal request from the user’s next of kin or other proper legal request to do so.

http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

The executor of the person's will or next of kin needs to contact them.

[miredrose326]

My aunt passed away last month and she still shows up on my fb.  I occasionally go to her page to look at her pictures so I can see happy pictures of her with her kids.  I figure when my cousins are ready to close her account they will take care of it but until that point, it makes me happy to see her. 

[familyfun]

I agree notifying Facebook so they can turn it into a Memorial page is a good idea.  Friends and family can still view her profile and photos and write on her wall.  But the jarring messages won't come up.  Also, if it's kept as an active profile, old friends, classmates, etc.  who didn't know about her death may try to friend her and wonder why she isn't responding. 

[NutMeg]

I actually had to do this recently. A friend of mine committed suicide just after Christmas, and it was painful for me and others to see Facebook with a suggestion that we hadn't talked to her lately, and that we should catch up. I ended up notifying Facebook of her death and they memorialized her page. We can still post on her wall and view her pictures, but she no longer pops up on notifications and her contact information has been removed.

[Emmy]

I lost a friend recently and her sister decided to keep her facebook page up as a memorial.  Her sister announced that she was keeping the page up as a memorial is able to get into the page and respond to friend requests, ect.  Several people have left posts memorial posts on her wall.  Ironically, in the days following her death, facebook kept prompting me to write her or send a message. 

I think the next of kin should decide whether to keep it up or take it down although I like the idea of a memorial page if it prevents facebook from suggesting the deceased person as a friend or suggesting other people write to them.  Ideally, I wouldn't just take a page down without notifying the person's friends on FB about their death.  I think a memorial page gives people who knew the person, but may not have been a close friend or relative, say goodbye.

[kingsrings]

Facebook will take a request from anyone about memoralizing a page?? I thought they only would from a family member. I think that's the best, because with so many people on FB, someone could do something vindictive or mean regarding telling FB someone is dead when they're not.

My former college professor's son died two years ago. His profile is still active and is on his mom's and friends' friends list still. As far as I can see, the page hasn't been turned into a memorial, but his friends/family have left memorial notes and comments on his profile.

[pixel dust]

My ex-boyfriend passed away in December of 2007. He had a Facebook page and it is still up. It serves as a memorial page for his friends and family. People still often post on there, mentioning they miss him or that something they did reminded them of him. It's actually nice. I stop by there every so often to read the memories people post.

I'm sure if the person's family really wanted the profile to come down they could contact Facebook with a death certificate and FB would pull the profile. But I don't think Facebook purges old profiles, at least not yet.

[NutMeg]

Just to clarify, Facebook doesn't memorialize pages just because someone asked. There is a spot in the request form for a news article verifying the person's death. In the case of my friend, it was very obvious from her wall that she was deceased and I believe they take that into account as well.

[AndreaBeth105]

To clarify a bit further, and to answer KingsRings' question, facebook will accept a request from anyone who fills out the form.  The form has a dropdown to select your relationship to the deceased, but friend is one of the options.  Anyone who can prove, with a link to an online obituary, that someone is deceased, can request a page be memorialized.  (I recently went through the process with a very dear friend's page.)

All of that said, I think it would be rude for anyone but a close friend or family member to submit the request.  Perhaps, if someone is bothered by the notifications, the best thing to do might be to forward the facebook protocol to a close family member who can decide whether memorializing the page is appropriate.