Let us know when a contributing patron has died
I have been using the "Messages" tool to collaborate with other patrons for years. Unfortunately, I get very few responses, which leaves me wondering if I have tried sometimes to communicate with someone who can no longer get back to me. I am suggesting, as a partial solution, the creation of some mechanism to indicate that a patron has died. Perhaps when I click on the user name of the patron who posted some piece of information, such as a birth date, I could be informed that the patron died. That way I will not waste my time writing to someone on "the other side."
Comments
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Well, FamilySearch isn't the only platform where that will be the case. If anyone in Ancestry tries messaging my mother, they will have an eternal wait - although if they looked at my tree they would be able to see she is deceased.
Being deceased isn't the only reason people don't respond to messages. Lives can change and there is suddenly no time for FamilySearch any more. Or, people can start out doing family history with a bang and then quickly discover their God-given talents lie elsewhere. They then sneek away to other pursuits and don't look back. Others may not respond because they don't know the answer. I'm sort of surprised at how many people don't feel comfortable responding to a message they don't understand or know the answer to.
I suspect we will never know why people don't respond to messages.
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Please also bear in mind that if the person who did the update is not a member of the LDS Church, then there is basically zero chance of the system knowing if they have died.
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