Provide family the time and opportunity to create a FindAGrave.com memorial first

Provide family the time and opportunity to create a FindAGrave.com memorial first

Started
May 30, 2019
Petition to
FindAGrave.com FindAGrave administrators
Signatures: 54Next Goal: 100
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Why this petition matters

Started by Tony Fleming

A number of individuals, upon losing a loved one, visit FindAGrave.com after a few days of grief to share their loss by creating a memorial for their loved one.

Too often, they find that another person, not a friend or family member, has already created a memorial, stealing from them the opportunity to honor their family member with its creation. While the person may request a transfer of said memorial from the creator, it is the act of creation in the first place that feels like a violation and intrusion. 

While FindAGrave.com does not have a rule preventing such creations by non-family or friends, such a rule can be instituted in the system to both encourage memorials to be created while also providing family members or close friends to do so first. In doing so, they would be able to remember and honor their loved one and achieve a degree of closure through the act. 

A rule could be created that would require the system to put on hold any memorial created within 30 days of a death if the creator did not share the last name of the deceased or had not previously created a memorial with the deceased's last name. In those cases, it's likely they're family perhaps by blood or marriage.

The system could monitor and implement this rule with little human oversight. It would not be a perfect system by any means, but it would be better than we have now and start building a culture and expectation of respect.

Alternatively, the system could allow immediate creation of the memorial but hold it as a draft (with an appropriate explanation displayed to the creator) for 30 days without making it live for a specified time period. If a family member (such as someone matching the criteria above) create ones within that time, the family member's memorial would be published and the earlier created draft would be deleted. If no one matching the criteria of "family" creates a memorial within 30 days, the original creator's draft would be made live on the site. 

Those of us signing this petition request that FindAGrave.com (or Ancestry.com) institute such a system or a similar one. 

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Signatures: 54Next Goal: 100
Support now
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Decision Makers

  • FindAGrave administratorsFindAGrave.com