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gowlerk

Social media and fatalities- WAS Fatality - Toronto July 5th

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Maybe this should go to the General group, but it does relate to this incident. I am developing a pet peeve around the almost inevitable cryptic "BSBD" FB status updates that begin to appear shortly after sport fatalities lately.

When you do this you are telling all your friends publicly that someone in our world has died. You aren't posting the name, because you know you aren't supposed to yet. But you want all the world to know that something bad has happened.

Your friends, and worse yet, the family of your friends will know that the knock at the door by the authorities is coming shortly, but not where it will be. Is it my brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter? Don't know but it might be.

Why do people do this? Is it because they just don't think? Or is is it because they want to be the first?

If you can't name the person, and if the info is not yet generally public, this is just plain cruel.

Rant over.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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gowlerk

Maybe this should go to the General group, but it does relate to this incident. I am developing a pet peeve around the almost inevitable cryptic "BSBD" FB status updates that begin to appear shortly after sport fatalities lately.

When you do this you are telling all your friends publicly that someone in our world has died. You aren't posting the name, because you know you aren't supposed to yet. But you want all the world to know that something bad has happened.

Your friends, and worse yet, the family of your friends will know that the knock at the door by the authorities is coming shortly, but not where it will be. Is it my brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter? Don't know but it might be.

Why do people do this? Is it because they just don't think? Or is is it because they want to be the first?

If you can't name the person, and if the info is not yet generally public, this is just plain cruel.

Rant over.


This is facebook culture. It will not change because of these concerns. Period. Not defending it, just calling out the facts.

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This protocol was followed because no one wants to hear about the fatality of their loved one on Facebook. They should learn that through the proper channels. The family is more important than UR. Get over that. If you hear of a fatality and you thinking maybe someone you know, you as a jumper can call dropzone or other friends you know. Family comes first, and you will learn in due time.
Laurel Nichols
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If it weren't for physics and law enforcement, I'd be unstoppable.-Anon

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gowlerk

Maybe this should go to the General group, but it does relate to this incident. I am developing a pet peeve around the almost inevitable cryptic "BSBD" FB status updates that begin to appear shortly after sport fatalities lately.

When you do this you are telling all your friends publicly that someone in our world has died. You aren't posting the name, because you know you aren't supposed to yet. But you want all the world to know that something bad has happened.

Your friends, and worse yet, the family of your friends will know that the knock at the door by the authorities is coming shortly, but not where it will be. Is it my brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter? Don't know but it might be.

Why do people do this? Is it because they just don't think? Or is is it because they want to be the first?

If you can't name the person, and if the info is not yet generally public, this is just plain cruel.

Rant over.



I must say, I agree with you.

I've been concerned for some time that our society has lost much of it's personal relationship skills and has become desensitized due to the internet.

In our need to feel important and relevant, our empathy and compassion is all too often reduced to that of a keyboard.

My prayers go out to the family and friends of yet another of our lost brothers.
Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

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Skydivesg

***Maybe this should go to the General group, but it does relate to this incident. I am developing a pet peeve around the almost inevitable cryptic "BSBD" FB status updates that begin to appear shortly after sport fatalities lately.

When you do this you are telling all your friends publicly that someone in our world has died. You aren't posting the name, because you know you aren't supposed to yet. But you want all the world to know that something bad has happened.

Your friends, and worse yet, the family of your friends will know that the knock at the door by the authorities is coming shortly, but not where it will be. Is it my brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter? Don't know but it might be.

Why do people do this? Is it because they just don't think? Or is is it because they want to be the first?

If you can't name the person, and if the info is not yet generally public, this is just plain cruel.

Rant over.



I've been concerned for some time that our society has lost much of it's personal relationship skills and has become desensitized due to the internet.

In our need to feel important and relevant, our empathy and compassion is all too often reduced to that of a keyboard.

My prayers go out to the family and friends of yet another of our lost brothers.

You are both now two of my favorite persons.
Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess

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Skydivesg

***Maybe this should go to the General group, but it does relate to this incident. I am developing a pet peeve around the almost inevitable cryptic "BSBD" FB status updates that begin to appear shortly after sport fatalities lately.

When you do this you are telling all your friends publicly that someone in our world has died. You aren't posting the name, because you know you aren't supposed to yet. But you want all the world to know that something bad has happened.

Your friends, and worse yet, the family of your friends will know that the knock at the door by the authorities is coming shortly, but not where it will be. Is it my brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter? Don't know but it might be.

Why do people do this? Is it because they just don't think? Or is is it because they want to be the first?

If you can't name the person, and if the info is not yet generally public, this is just plain cruel.

Rant over.



I must say, I agree with you.

I've been concerned for some time that our society has lost much of it's personal relationship skills and has become desensitized due to the internet.

In our need to feel important and relevant, our empathy and compassion is all too often reduced to that of a keyboard.

My prayers go out to the family and friends of yet another of our lost brothers.

I can't say ditto strongly enough to this! And this includes dzo's talking to the media and giving interviews. When my fiance went in, the news were airing interviews with his name and picture complete with the dzo talking about how much Todd loved skydiving before we could notify family, including his children, who were about thirty feet from finding out that their dad had died through the TV news. I cannot stress enough how important and valueable it is to allow family and very close friends to be notified in a caring and private manner. I'd say that also goes for the media too but we all know they don't give a rat's ass about doing the right and moral thing.

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wildfan75

******Maybe this should go to the General group, but it does relate to this incident. I am developing a pet peeve around the almost inevitable cryptic "BSBD" FB status updates that begin to appear shortly after sport fatalities lately.

When you do this you are telling all your friends publicly that someone in our world has died. You aren't posting the name, because you know you aren't supposed to yet. But you want all the world to know that something bad has happened.

Your friends, and worse yet, the family of your friends will know that the knock at the door by the authorities is coming shortly, but not where it will be. Is it my brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter? Don't know but it might be.

Why do people do this? Is it because they just don't think? Or is is it because they want to be the first?

If you can't name the person, and if the info is not yet generally public, this is just plain cruel.

Rant over.



I must say, I agree with you.

I've been concerned for some time that our society has lost much of it's personal relationship skills and has become desensitized due to the internet.

In our need to feel important and relevant, our empathy and compassion is all too often reduced to that of a keyboard.

My prayers go out to the family and friends of yet another of our lost brothers.

I can't say ditto strongly enough to this! And this includes dzo's talking to the media and giving interviews. When my fiance went in, the news were airing interviews with his name and picture complete with the dzo talking about how much Todd loved skydiving before we could notify family, including his children, who were about thirty feet from finding out that their dad had died through the TV news. I cannot stress enough how important and valueable it is to allow family and very close friends to be notified in a caring and private manner. I'd say that also goes for the media too but we all know they don't give a rat's ass about doing the right and moral thing.

I think this should be moved to its own thread.

Yeah I very much agree that people need to use discretion when reporting incidents on social media. I have learned abut many friends passing via social media the past couple of years, but that is how I communicate with the world.

It is something that worries me very much regarding my own Family. For the past 4 years I have been worlds away from my family and the thought of them learning about me having an incident via social media is very unsettling, however in my situation that is probably the best way to contact them.

Even this incident itself had me worried as my Father jumps at the dz where this happened.

I guess all I can ask from people is that they refrain from releasing names until they are sure that the family has been notified, in my situation this could take a couple of weeks depending on where I am and where/what the rest of my family is doing.
I would hate for my brother to come out of working in the bush for 2 weeks to find a bunch of FB posts about me, rather than have a phone call from my family.

Ive had to change the way I use social media so that people can not post things to my wall without my permission just to avoid this situation.
Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

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I should note that in this particular incident the DZO did not mention any name in the next-morning interviews, even when family had been notified.

With the speed of the news cycle and social media, there's no way to stop really uncomfortable situations.

Such as a relative noticing something is up, phoning the DZ before official notification, and asking "Where's xxxxxx? Why aren't you answering the phones? Did something happen?"

In an age where people post photos of the meals they are eating, it's hard to stop them from posting about a lost friend, especially if all they do is say BSBD or change their facebook photo to all black.

I see the frustration people have, and the need to try to keep educating each other, but with the easy access to social media one just isn't going to be able to keep things a total secret these days while waiting hours (?) for official notification.

Edit: Yes this would be a good topic to spin off separately from the accident thread.

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Quote

Edit: Yes this would be a good topic to spin off separately from the accident thread.



Could a Mod please snip these posts and start another thread for us in General.

Thank you
Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

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Thanks for moving these.

In general I have no problem with the BSBD and black profile pictures, I think it was actually quite appropriate regarding a friend who passed away from a heart attack recently. I see these statements to be very much a tribute or salute to out friends who have left us. I guess it depends on which contexts each person regards the statement.

Ive been around the world enough that pretty much every fatality effects someone I know. I usually able to determine by the number and region where these post are coming from if its possibly someone I may be close to.

If I feel there is a chance I may know the person I will PM someone senior in the area to ask, quite often I get the response of no name yet, if it is still early.

I think people just need to refrain from releasing the name or suggesting anything that may lead to imply the identity.


I think this is something that I am going to have to discuss with my family when I see them next week. In my personal scenario it is very possible that social media is the best and most efficient way to contact them, however i would prefer it not be via some jumper i barely know posting BSBD to my FB page.
Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

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When I saw the news of the fatality at PST based on the description in the media it made me think of 2 jumpers there that I know very well. It was very easy for me to verify that it was not in fact them, if it was not a jumper that was a good personal friend I really have no reason to know the identity right away. So there is no need for me to message everyone I know at the dz trying to identify the person and then spread the word around myself that there was an incident.
Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

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Adding to Vader's points, I have worked at my respective home dzs since I started jumping. It isn't fun to get bombarded by everyone and anyone just looking for the gory gossipy details whenever something happens simply because they know I work there. There is a right way to ask if you are personally affected (as Vader outlined above) and completely inappropriate ways.

Do not post things publically on FB, do not repeatedly call/msg after being told you that you are not affected, do not ask for play by play or gory details, and have a little bit of freaking decencey, respect that a loss has happened, people are affected and your morbid curiousity may need to wait.

Rant over.

ETA-HMU if you are around this year buddy. Miss you.

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Flying to Canada tomorrow :) But I won't be making it to summerfest this year :(

On a few occasions I have had friends pm me after hearing of an incident in Australia (fucking rough year :() This is the appropriate way of confirming that the incident does not affect you. I think it would really stress out my family if someone had posted to my wall asking if I am ok because they heard there was a fatality somewhere in Australia, especially if it is during one of the frequent periods when I am somewhere where I do not have regular internet access.
I have a hard enough time keeping track of where I am in the world let alone letting my family guess if I may have been at the DZ at that time.

Going back to the debate of posting BSBD i think it also has the benefit of saying that yes there was an incident here today, but it wasn't me.

Social media has definitely changed the way we interact and communicate on a global scale. For me it has proven an invaluable tool while travelling, it allows easy, instant communication with my family and friends regardless of the distance separating us. It really is a wonderful amazing thing, we just need to be careful how we use it.

I found it interesting the other day, Im currently in Austria, which to my parents means I'm somewhere in Europe. After hearing about the plane crash in Poland my Dad, in Canada, posted to my wall asking that I was not in Poland. Friends from Australia confined that they thought I was Austria. Squeak Piped up from somewhere in South America to tell him that my luggage was still in Thailand, so I didn't have my rig and wasn't jumping.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

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