Well, we all have an idea where our physical skin will be when we die, but what about our digital ones???
Okay laugh if you will but this subject is something that a few of the more serious skinners really should consider…
The original discussion began on one of my cozy hang outs over at skinbase.org the thread was created by Elwin aka Mr. Jingle bells Thank you Elwin (for letting me rip apart the idea and turn it into a small article) and I felt hmm maybe this should be a subject that needs a little more thought upon, especially since we have had a recent and unexpected loss of a very young skinner in our skinning community, and his work is still sitting on numerous skinning sites.
With more and more skins being purchased (even in the pocket pc arena skins are being sold now) why not look at this in a more serious frame of mind, since money tends to make people much more serious about things, and If “you” are indeed one of these people that are lucky enough to get paid for your art you definitely need to consider thinking on this subject if you have your skins or artwork uploaded at various sites for paid downloads such as Download.com etc.
Though it is a hard enough subject for some people to think upon their deaths in the real world and consider wrapping things up prior to their passing, of course this would be even more challenging to take the time to think upon it in the digital realm, (since most don’t take their online identities very serious) if it not be thrown out in front of your face to consider for a moment or two… soooooo with that being said, my mission for this article will be to do just that, shove this subject in your face to think about even if only for a quick moment or for some, maybe you might even look at this in a serious light and actually take the necessary steps to assure that in the event of your passing someone either a friend or a loved one knows how you wished all your Digital art such as your skins, wallpapers, skinnable programs that you may have written or what about your personal website that might also be a site devoted to skins and digital art of some sorts, just how should all these things be handled??? hmm pause *think think* hehe
Here are a few things to consider:
Who will “you” be comfortable with to discuss this matter with that you can trust and not feel ridiculous voicing your wishes?
Take the person you have chosen to a computer and show “them” how to access the websites you have your art uploaded at, or maybe create a favorite folder or bookmark folder with the links to the websites that all your digital art is at.
If you should pass, do you want this designated person to announce info about your passing to your friends on these sites? if so tell them ahead of time what info you may or may not want released and how to post the info whether it be by a news post or on the message boards of your favorite sites, and take them there to show them how to post it.
Think about making yourself a Hardcopy “list” of the Art & Skinning websites that you have all your work at make sure the sites are listed in proper url format.
Make a list of all your nicknames and passwords to access your personal profiles on each of these sites, so the designated person can access your work and delete or edit your skins if there should happen to be some skins that you want “them” to possibly keep updated if the person you leave in charge has artistic skinning abilities etc.
If you choose to leave “some” work behind and have other pieces removed make that clear in your instructions to this person.
What about your personal website? Should you have one does anyone have instructions on how you want this handled? such as contact information to where you have your site uploaded at, passwords, maybe even fees that need to be paid for up keep if your wish is to have the site stay up for a specified period of time for friends to have access to any downloadable content you may have on your site?
Now of course with all this being said and presented for you, ask me if I personally have thought upon this… Hell no! I’m gonna live forever! hehe
I’ve created a 3 page Dummy Digital Will just to get some ideas flowing should you decide you want to actually take this serious and jot some information down feel free to download this by clicking on the image below…
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— Doreen, May 25th, 2002
It has been said that Death is the last taboo in the western world. Prove me wrong and comment, you chickens!
craeonics {07.06.2002|06.58}
Darn! I missed my chance to be interviewed.
(doing my Brando impersonation)
"I could have been a contender! I could have been sombody!"
{:p
Elwin {07.06.2002|09.40}
okay me is gonna chase Elwin down for an interview! (just as long as he promises not to wear the jingle bell hat) hehe
Doreen {07.06.2002|13.13}
perhaps we coudl all just tag a "this skin is open source the day I die" into our readme files =`)
kenray {07.06.2002|13.29}
ya know i was thinking about this the other day, not just if you make skins but if your a regular user of a community and then suddenly, die go into hospital etc
who is gonna tell them of your plight, sounds a bit morbid i guess but still summin to think about.
snakerboy {07.06.2002|19.13}
Hooray! somebody thought about it! (alright, so he thought about it before my article)
Doreen {07.06.2002|19.49}
Death IS still taboo in this culture, yes. But i'll bite.
I was talking to my younger brother a month or so ago after I heard about a fellow skinner dying. We started wondering who notified the community of his demise... this led to a bit of speculation on what would happen if either of us died.
In the end, we exchanged passwords to each others' accounts, and i showed him where i keep my "skins in progress" folder. When I die, i want all material in that folder to be released under the GPL. I would want my last act to be one of generosity, so all my source psd's to all my past skins will be released under the same liscense.
Of course, it helps a great deal to have someone close to you that knows the the community and how things work somewhat, but that's an idea.
- infinil
infinil {07.08.2002|10.59}
Death will "always" be taboo, specially when ppl have no faith (but I won't go there) hehe
and yes you need to either show someone close how to swim around on the net to take care of your stuff, or hopefully inform a friend of yours w/i the skinning community about what to do...
Doreen {07.08.2002|19.39}
Or the other way around, death will always be a taboo, especially when people have faith. After all, religion is no more than glorified fear of the unknown, ergo death. I think it is a taboo, because it's no fun in thinking about yourself not being around. Rather macabre even.
I've had this thought about designing my own coffin adn tombstone, but can't make up my mind whether I want to be buried and rot in the grave devoured by maggots and stuff or just be cremated, which is no fun either, for I have seen the ovens... *shivers* ...and you end up with no physical remains, except a little bit of ash.
Hmm, I think I'll go for cremation in combination with a cenotaph. But then the future generations can't visit my remains no more, in the unlikely event that I become legendary.
When I pass, the "community" will only notice my absense over time. Hopefully they'll start wondering what happenend. It doesn't really matter to me in the end, because I am not around no more.
craeonics {07.09.2002|06.48}
Religion is no more than glorified fear of the unknown? nah I don't think so? but who knows for some ppl...
I've viewed creamtions in action very strange how our bones become completely see through during cremation and FYI we don't become ash, we become almost like gravel or grey sandish at the end... (I always thought we would become like ashes too)
I personally would rather be cremated and thrown in the sea, but in the end it will be whatever makes my kids feel most comfortable.
Legendary crae... hehe
Doreen {07.09.2002|08.25}
Come to thinl of it, burial isn't eternal either. Over here you rent a piece of soil for a period of about fifteen years. After that, what's left of you (mostly only bones) you get dug up and cremated anyway. Unless you get a family grave (which do not get "cleaned"), but then you'd have no tomb of your own and be stacked on top of the rest of the family.
So much trouble. I think I'll just live forever, so I don't have to pick any of these so so options.
craeonics {07.09.2002|19.31}
hehe crae
or move to Cali cuz they don't dig you up over here (as far as I know)
Well I have heard that they now also do cremation and then shoot you out into space in some kind of capsule to the stars! now that sounds like something I might consider too but then again my kids wont know what star I landed on =(
(plus I heard it was pretty expensive)
Doreen {07.09.2002|19.40}
As if there isn't enough pollution on Earth already, now theys tart messing up space as well...
craeonics {07.11.2002|16.25}
w/ what I "thought" I heard they charge, doubt they'll be too many cremated corpses in capsules being shot out to the stars so don't worry...
Doreen {07.11.2002|23.55}
Actually, Doreen, once a grave is 100 years old the remains can be moved in order to clear the area for development, new graves, etc...
There is also the option of criogenics (sp?). Deep freeze ya till they can figure out how to revive you again... hehe...... certainly not my idea of resting in peace though. *s*
Sylva {07.13.2002|20.30}
Well the thing w/ cryogenics is they chop off your head and only freeze that....
(I'll pass on that one) I'd like my head to be wherever my body goes. hehe
Doreen {07.14.2002|09.25}
Oh no, they freeze your entire body. One problem though: no fridge is good enough (cold enough) to stop the decay.
craeonics {07.15.2002|08.36}
well the one I seen on TV (some cable documentary) they only deep freeze your head and prepare it in some liquid nitrogen or I dunno what it was, and put it in a deep metal drum full of something smokey (don't ask me why) I had to change the channel at that point... was pretty gruesome even for me...
Doreen {07.15.2002|20.02}
okay well if my article did not scare them away this conversation will... hehe
(did anyone think about this seriously) guess not?
Doreen {07.22.2002|20.28}
Hey it's kinda dead in here? hehe
Doreen {08.17.2002|13.58}