Regarding Erus, member, gun rights advocate

I have never posted to this site before today, but have frequently discussed active topics with or read postings over the shoulder of my husband, known on these forums as "Erus".

On March 24, Erus passed away at home, surrounded by those who knew and loved him. Beyond the great and personal loss to his family, Nevada and the United States has lost a passionately outspoken gun rights advocate. I don't know how close any of the members of this board were with him, but I know that he visited this forum often and was fairly active with his posts. Shortly after posting this announcement, I will be deleting his account.

I know that he gleaned much invaluable information from this site and its forums, and through him, I have learned a great deal. For this, I personally thank you all.

Many blessings,
River

My condolences to you and yours.

May the memories of happy times sustain you.

Thank you for taking a moment to let us know.

Wishing you and yours comfort in these difficult times.

Citizen said:

Thank you for taking a moment to let us know.

Wishing you and yours comfort in these difficult times.

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I concur with Citizen.

I'm very sorry to hear that. I also wish you all the best. Cherish the good times you had.

One thing I will point out is that I hope he'd want you to have his account deleted, because his posts perhaps could serve as a lasting tribute to his knowledge and passion for gun rights, continuing on to educate people who read them, and leaving his mark for all to see. So while I mean to in no way offend or tell you what to do, please be sure you believe it's what he'd have wanted.

River said:

Shortly after posting this announcement, I will be deleting his account.

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I'm sorry to hear of his passing, as well as of your loss.

However, I'm equally sorry to hear you're not willing to allow the thousands of hours he invested in the lives of others and gun rights in general stand as they are. He poured himself out here online. To delete his account is to delete a part of him, of what he meant to others.

Having spent 26 years as a forum administrator, I've encountered this a few times before, and most forum admins include a rule that content, once posted, belongs to the forum. Deleting his account will screw up many threads in which he either responded to others, or where others responded to him.

I do not believe anyone who has participated on any message forum for any appreciable length of time would want their content to be deleted after their passing. I certainly would not. Far too much time, effort, and skull sweat has gone into more than 73,000 postings, hopefully for the edification of others, for me to ever want to see all that go to waste because those who survived me want to delete my account!

A far better approach is simply to lock the account. That way no one else can use it, yet his efforts would live on.