One of Wikipedia's problems is, as outlined in Wikipedia:Friends, it's rare to actually meet the people you collaborate with every single day. You think you know them, but often, you know extremely little.
There are times when Wikipedians have simply disappeared without explanation - one example is User:Sango123, who left suddenly in 2006, and emails to her have not been replied to.
It is natural that on some occasions, these editors may simply have become bored and left the site quietly. Other times, it may be that they have passed away. We do not know for sure. It is unlikely that I would leave for long periods, but if I knew about it, I would be sure to let people know. However, this cannot be guaranteed.
Although I edit with a nickname, and use a pseudonym on mailing lists, my real life name is known to many people, and I have met hundreds of Wikipedians. It should not be difficult to confirm or disprove any claim that I have died.
My close family are all aware that I edit Wikipedia, and if I was to die during my time here, it is inevitable that at some point, they would like to inform the community of it. I would expect them to post this information to my English Wikipedia userpage or talk page. The sender of the message should be checked to ensure it posts from the same IP I use. If it does not have the same IP (or close range) then the message should obviously be removed.
If additional confirmation is needed, my address and contact details are with Wikimedia UK, whom I give permission to release privately to a suitable person (i.e. a checkuser) if needed.
Instructions, should I pass away during my time here, are as follows:
- On confirmation of my death from a member of my family, my userpage should redirected to my talk page on every project I am active on, and fully protected. The header at the top of my talk pages should be removed; on all except this project, they should be soft-redirected to my English Wikipedia talk page, then fully protected. My English Wikipedia talk page would be left open to any messages.
- My user rights on every project should be removed.
- My accounts should be blocked indefinitely.
- If appropriate, I could be added to WP:RIP.