The Big Hit By A Bus Problem(for real)

[Sense]

You probably already know the hit by a bus problem. If it isn't literally it isn't such a big problem, people can tell the community in advance that they're leaving. But what when they're hit by a bus for real? I mean, if I would be flattened on the road tomorrow when I go to school there is no way of letting you know. I'm not really important for the whole community, but what if I were a team leader of team X? Would team X wait until their leader would return, which would mean that they'd have to wait forever. And what if I wouldn't have given other people the passwords of the mailist, forum and other stuff? How do you solve things like that?
Shouldn't there come a procedure for this? A vice-teamleader or community-backup person with all passwords? And how long should you wait before you would be declared dead?

Of course this can also apply for people that leave without saying a thing.

Just some macabre thoughts. Any ideas?

[prshah]

And what if I wouldn't have given other people the passwords of the mailist, forum and other stuff? How do you solve things like that?

sudo clear_passwords && pray_for_departed_soul

[odiseo77]

You know, sometimes I've asked myself a similar question. "What would my on-line friends would think? They'd probably think I blocked them forever". But this is not the part I'm most concerned about, but the possibility of being hit by a bus (or shot, or whatever)

[chucky chuckaluck]

hm, i better get my sister's lasagna recipe.

[klange]

I think the best solution would be a password-protected "easy button" that a family member could press (yes, as in a literal GUI button on a little GTK form) that would activate a script that would:
1. Inform friends via messaging services. Possibly everyone on your contacts list, even if they hated you.
2. Log on to various websites and change their passwords all to one thing (to make it easier for the family member to sort things out)
3. Post an article to your blog/website/twitter/frequented forums saying you're dead, probably a good idea to let the family member describe the cause of death and other information.
4. Display, for the family member, your will.

[chewearn]

Or just pay for the convenience:
http://www.mylastemail.com/

[FuturePilot]

You probably already know the hit by a bus problem. If it isn't literally it isn't such a big problem, people can tell the community in advance that they're leaving. But what when they're hit by a bus for real? I mean, if I would be flattened on the road tomorrow when I go to school there is no way of letting you know. I'm not really important for the whole community, but what if I were a team leader of team X? Would team X wait until their leader would return, which would mean that they'd have to wait forever. And what if I wouldn't have given other people the passwords of the mailist, forum and other stuff? How do you solve things like that?
Shouldn't there come a procedure for this? A vice-teamleader or community-backup person with all passwords? And how long should you wait before you would be declared dead?

Of course this can also apply for people that leave without saying a thing.

Just some macabre thoughts. Any ideas?

I've thought of the same thing myself.

I think the best solution would be a password-protected "easy button" that a family member could press (yes, as in a literal GUI button on a little GTK form) that would activate a script that would:
1. Inform friends via messaging services. Possibly everyone on your contacts list, even if they hated you.
2. Log on to various websites and change their passwords all to one thing (to make it easier for the family member to sort things out)
3. Post an article to your blog/website/twitter/frequented forums saying you're dead, probably a good idea to let the family member describe the cause of death and other information.
4. Display, for the family member, your will.

I thought of an idea like that too.

[Xzallion]

The team thing can be overcome with careful planning. Google's I/O discussions cover this about halfway through their video about preventing poisonous people from killing opensource projects.
Basically you document everything extensively, and use a tool like CVS or Subversion to monitor the projects progress in incremental steps so that should someone 'get hit by a bus' you can replace them on the team and the new person can see where they were going with their code.