Thoughts and guidelines for posting obituaries on the forum

Occasionally over the years of The Coffee Shop, we have had to report the passing of people related to the railway, and indeed several of our members from earlier days have passed on. On an average day, some 2,000 to 2,500 people in the UK^▸ leave us; at present, Covid-19 is adding up to 1,000 to that number. Reports we are seeing here - and will continue to see for a while, I fear, will be out of proportion to that ratio - not just "a third up", but up several / many times. There are several reasons - (1) The virus is striking people who have been active until days / weeks ago, even if a significant proportion of them have had underlying health issues. (2) It is striking disproportionally older men (amongst other known or suspected biases) and that's a similar bias to community transport groups, senior rail industry managers, and indeed to our forum membership ... with many younger rail industry operations staff in key positions at a far greater risk than those who are able to work from home, or suspend work for a period. And (3) the virus is - rightly - big news which means that passings are reported far wider, faster, and more strongly that such reports in prior times.

Everyone who passes is (or was) and individual and will be leaving family and/or friends and/or colleagues behind. All were individual who did something different - be that a little or a lot different to others, and should be respected through individual memories. I am going to encourage (subject to moderator agreement [[obtained prior to posting this guidance]]) individual threads for each individual passing. Further, I would confirm that should any member feel that we should mark and honour the passing of someone on the forum, that member is encouraged to start a thread to do so. Should multiple threads be started concerning the same person, our moderator / admin team will (in most circumstances) merge them to give a complete picture. And members are encouraged to add their own memories too.

* Please choose what you feel is the most appropriate board on the forum if you have the task of bringing us news of someone's passing, or let me know by email or message if you would rather I (or someone else) post on your behalf.

* In order to help identify these threads, please add "RIP" to the subject line; that may sound bit harsh, but it provides a marker and leaves no doubt as to the news; over the decade, we have had a large number of subjects relating to the roles of living individuals, and this will differentiate between those threads and obituaries

* Please do quote heavily from other public sources rather than using just links; that way we build complete story here and we won't change / fade out as the news media and social media moves on. A picture of the person as they would wish to be remembered is most welcome, and if you add such as an attachment to these posts I can edit posts and merge it in to the content to make it part of the story of the person if you wish.

* If posting news that's not yet public shared anywhere else, please consider that very close family and friends should really hear first and not via the forum - each case is individual, but perhaps hold back an hour or two. If you are close family or friend, the forum would be honoured if you post here on behalf of that close group.

* Please double check that you are reporting the correct person's passing (and the picture is of them) prior to posting in public. Many names are shared. Further, someone's disappearance at the current time can lead to worries that turn into rumours ... that turn out to be wrong. If there's a seed of doubt, our Frequent Posters' "Rumour Mill" is available and the post can be made public when later confirmed. If there are multiple seeds of doubt, please check before you post / ask one of the team for a second opinion through personal message or email.

My (BBC^» ) news feed often lists the top ten articles and there are times at present where every one of them is Coronavirus-related - has that in the subject line. I am going to ask that members keep "The lighter side" as an Obit-free zone ... and that they help me by posting lighter other materials there. Loving the "ticketing around your home" thread at the moment!

The Pirate's code in "Pirates of the Carribean" was described as "not so much a set of rules - more guidelines" and I'm going to ask readers to treat the suggestions in this post in the same way. If you're honouring someone who's passed, it's fine. And the moderators / admins are here (and in some cases with more time than usual) to help add / tune / move things around to bolster that honour.

Stay as safe as you can, everyone ... and if you're a key person who's out there / working in any role at present, "Thank you" ... two little words which don't even go halfway to indicating the depth of my thanks.