I suppose that technically this is true, but this message has no meaning at all for anyone else who might be searching from my friend. In fact, I would even say that this is cruel and puts LinkedIn in a bad light. I sent a message about this plus asking about an Obituary section to the Help & Support team and this was the response:
Hi Paul,
I'm sorry for the missing part of your inquiry. Currently, the Docusign form is our official notification and process in order to identify and close a deceased member's account. You're unable to view the profile because of it having recently been closed.
Feedback from members like you provides us with insights that identify the needs of our customers. I sent your message to our research and development team for review and consideration in future developments.
Although every idea cannot be individually responded to or implemented, please know that we do monitor suggestions quite closely for recurring themes. I'd like to invite you to follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/linkedin or check out the LinkedIn Blog http://blog.linkedin.com for the latest notifications on site improvements. Both options are great ways to stay informed about new releases and exciting work going on behind the scenes here at LinkedIn.
Regards,
Jason
LinkedIn Trust & Safety
Notice that Jason does not address the bizarre nature of the message I received when searching. And apparently the death of members is not seen as a "recurring theme" by support. Unbelievable.
As you know if you have lost anyone, it's hard enough to notify others, but if the process to do the notification is arduous, well that just is unacceptable. I recently went through this process with a family member and I saw how a good funeral home makes the process as smooth as possible. Of course, this is their business, but really it takes people who realize that if their company is built on connections, they must, must, must be able to gracefully honor the unfortunate severing of those connections due to someone's death.
Another LinkedIn member suggested that there be an Obituary section, which I think is a fantastic idea. I'm not an actuary, but with the number of members LinkedIn has, and a recent LinkedIn blog put that number at 58 million, there has to be a non-trivial number who die each year. On Obit section would be a great way of honoring friends and colleagues. It would also be great to have a way of having colleagues notified when someone dies.
However, organizational processes are a reflection of the organizational culture and it looks to me like the culture of LinkedIn is all about growing their community and looking forward to a glorious future. But not so much about looking back or considering the messy & difficult processes involved in death and dying or even just accepting the unpleasant fact of death. It may be that it comes from the energies of the 20 & 30 year olds that make up most of the company's ranks. I never thought much about death when I was that young!
Nevertheless, Facebook has accepted that people will die and they provide a process for "memorializing" or deleting an account upon that member's death:
Memorializing the account:
It is our policy to memorialize the account of a deceased person.
In order to protect the privacy of the deceased person, we cannot provide login information for the account. However, once it has been memorialized, we take measures to secure the account.
If you need to report a timeline to be memorialized, please contact us.
Removing the account:
Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from the site.
So it's really not so hard to do. I wonder how long it will take LinkedIn to come up with the same?
