Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-05-31/Obituaries

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Thank you for starting this section! I knew about Kattenkruid and Ronhjones, but not about the others. Too many great losses in a brief period ... thank you all for your contributions to Wikipedia! Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 21:52, 31 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It makes my heart heavy when a Wikipedian passes, even though I've never met them in person. I have worked with Ron on Commons, and he will surely be missed. They were all such amazing people. We were lucky to have them, even if it was for such a brief period of time in the grand scheme of things. ^Atsme _Talk 📧 01:02, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate (liking feels wrong given the contents) this little corner of the signpost. I hope it stays. --Dutchy45 (talk) 11:35, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This is a saddening section of the signpost, but sort of required. People can avoid reading if they dont want to read it. Even though we interacted only three-four times, I always saw Ron's work on enwiki, and on commons. In my real life, I have seen a lot of deaths, and saw a few people dying in front of my eyes. But I still dont understand why I am so much saddened, and shaken up by hearing about Ron's death. Like I said here, I am still trying to avoid venues wherever there are signatures. —usernamekiran (talk) 14:12, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

- Thanks for the kind words and the encouragement to continue this column. We used material from Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/2020 and that makes it a lot easier for The Signpost. Thanks to all those who contribute there. That said, my personal opinion is that obituaries are by far the toughest thing to write in any form of journalism, especially one with our limited resources (e.g. $0.00 annual budget) and the specifics of Wikipedia (e.g. anonymous editors). In the general case obits are hard to write because almost all the readers read the details in a very specific context as family members, friends, colleagues, etc. They may be in a state of shock, there likely won't be any tolerance for anything that comes close to criticism or even the slightest perceived mistake. They have personal details that we couldn't possibly have. They may compare "their" obit with others on the same page, e.g. why is this one shorter than that one, or why did you mention that guy's college but not this other guy's. I don't mean to criticize relatives or friends, but they are going through a tough time and can be very demanding. One very bad reaction to this by some journalists is to write very flowery pieces that nobody can complain about - even if they aren't true! That doesn't help anybody. On top of that the writer only gets one chance to get it right.
- That said - Is anybody looking for a very tough job that pays exactly $0? If so send me an email. I suppose there is at lest one form of compensation. Some of the best journalists in some of the best newspapers in the world, e.g. the New York Times, specialize in obits and are recognized by their colleagues for doing it. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 15:56, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  - @Smallbones: If you need more help getting obits done, I wrote Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-01-27/Obituary. I just need a ping or two onwiki with the names to get started. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:39, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  - I actually think reprinting the Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians obits is a good practice. In academic communities, obits are usually written by students or colleagues of the deceased who know both the person and their contribution to human knowledge, and often at the request of the journal's editor. My understanding is that the Deceased Wikipedians entries are written by Wikipedians in a similar position: those who were WikiFriends with the deceased as well as knowing their contributions to the encyclopedia. I think this comes close to the standard practice in collegial communities. — Wug·a·po·des 21:35, 2 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain. — T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Deepest condolences to all of them.--Vulp here 04:44, 2 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]