Topic: What will become of your BTT account if late (Read 251 times)

It does not happen on the forum but I have my friend who got motorbike accident in early of 2018. His wife still has access to his phone and she has not yet logged out his Facebook account. Sometimes, I see his account with green icon (means active) but he passed away for too long. Honestly, when I see his green icon, I missed him. Are there anything wrong with his account? I don't think so. Just green icon, no post, no status, nothing. I guess when you lost your loved ones, some of us will choose to leave everything in life condition, just read, not log out as my friend's wife.

The same will go for two accounts of Bruno, as some people pointed out above. Let's it be regardless of those accounts will be used to run or promote new projects, join signature campaigns, bounties then further investigation will be taken place.

I know another VIP member, JusticeForYou, who some up after a long inactive period, then applied in signature campaign. He was spotted and in-depth investigation by theymos. Look at that thread VIP member hacked?, and theymos' investigation result

The last, what do you think if we discussed too much about that just days after Bruno died (assumed he actually died, that I believed in). Did he ask for the badge and special title? He didn't. We asked for him, so why we go to complicate things for now? I think we should keep a bit silence to respect him for now. If any strange signals occur in the future, we will discuss more.

I used to have different views, mainly because I was never really part of a internet forum before this, but I think its clear that most accounts changing hands are for illegitimate reasons, and most go on to use that reputation to scam. Of course, there's also legitimate reasons such as buying businesses, and wanting all the socials with that, but that is very rarely extended to Bitcointalk, and is more related when concering Twitter, and Instagram. However, I will defend the "inherited" depending on what you mean by inherited, if a family member of a deceased user wants to take a look at their history, and specifically their personal messages (and was given permission prior to the death) then I think that's fine. Of course, verifying whether permission was given would be a difficult one. However, I do agree that they shouldn't post on that account, and take over the identity of their loved one. Although, its highly unlikely that someone would do that, as they would much rather perserve the account, and identity.

- If the account is logged into, but doesn't post it doesn't mean that this was through illegitmate means.
- If the account posts an announcement of the death this  doesn't necessarily mean the account has been compromised.
- If the account continues to post as if nothing happened, or announces that they hadn't really died then this would be cause for investigation
- If the account comes on, and requests a loan, or other highly risky sceanrio. Then immediate action would likely need to be made to reduce damaging the image of Bruno.

I believe the best scenario is if any of the above happened is to bring it up with the admins, and let them investigate. If they suspect foul behaviour then they can ban the account, while retaining the reputation of Bruno. If its a highly risky situation, then temporary feedback could be left until the final verdict. Its a case by case scenario, but just because x happens does not mean there needs to be a bandwagon trust spilling episode.

Come to think of it, what if the user was logged on and someone else who took control of the PC/ laptop/ device managed to come across this forum?

Unless theymos force logs out the account.

On the other hand, the said user could also be in some surgery or a coma so future logins might be possible. Therefore the red tag might not be always justifiable for every "death" case, unless there's a black-and-white proof.

If it comes back and state that he is Bruno, sign a message from an old staked address and then start posting, this will be very suspicious and sure he will be tagged at least as a scammer. With Bruno the situation is a bit different, he had a lot of pictures of himself posted here so he was a well-known personality IRL it's very easy to proof if it was him.

I didn't mean we should tag the dead, I was asking if the account ever becomes active on the forum(posting and carrying out other activities)what will be done?
This is an answer to my curiosity, so you believe the account shouldn't be tagged red if it becomes active in the future?

I can assure you that the Gleb Gamow account won't start posting.


I wouldn't call it a sale since I don't own the account but whatever. It's still in my control but I'll never use it for anything.

In general I despise the idea of a forum account changing hands. The account is the closest thing we have to a forum identity, it's what defines us. I can understand the reasons for a person to have a couple of accounts but I could never understand the reasons to use another person's account (purchased/hacked/borrowed/inherited). If you're ever in that position - legal heir and whatnot - create your own account, establish the link with an existing account if you need to via trust ratings etc.

I guess that's an interesting question, though I doubt that's going to happen in Bruno's case.  Last year he sold one or more of his accounts to, I think, suchmoon.  I'm wondering if suchmoon (or whoever took control of the Gleb Gamow account) still has access to it or not, and I can't remember the outcome of that situation other than Bruno got slammed for doing what he did.

People die all the time, and accounts all over the internet get abandoned daily.  It's not a new situation, nor do I think it's an issue that's of particular concern to bitcointalk.  We've already got a problem with account sales, and you never even know who's really writing when you see a member post something.  Someone hacking a deceased member's account certainly could happen, the same way an inactive account (from a member who isn't dead) could get hacked. 

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about Bruno's accounts becoming active again.  Obviously if one of them did start posting, you'd know it wasn't the original owner.

I don't think it would just be tagged just like that. I think we have enough brain cells (combined) within this community to determine whether an account has likely been handed down to family members or if it has been compromised or sold. Generally, if a family member was to gain access to the account they wouldn't likely actively use it, or sell it and instead would want to read personal messages, and maybe address the community if Bruno requested that. I wouldn't expect them to go on, and apply for a signature campaign as an example. When you lose a loved one, or friend all you want to do is reminise, and rememebr them for who they are. So, I don't think we'll be seeing anyone take over the account, and post under Brunos name. Instead, we may see login activity on the account, but I don't think that would be for particular alarm. Theymos as stated that any activity will likely have to be looked into due to the custom title etc, but I imagine there will be many community users, as well as staff members keeping an eye on the account, and looking for anything suspicious. Although, merely being actively logged into wouldn't be an issue per say. Although, theymos has more details than the public if that were to happen, so would be able to determine the likely scenario.


For myself personally, I'd much rather concern myself with other logistics of me dying, and making sure my family has access to things they can benefit from rather than perserving my passion of Bitcointalk, so its very low down on the priority list. Future disclaimer to any of my family members, my personal messages are rather boring. In all seriousness, its very sad whats happened to Bruno, or any others deceased users of the forum, and I'd hope that this community can understand that sometimes account access may be given to family members, and its not nesscarily a cause for alarm, and specifically painting the account red probably isn't the best idea without verifying it first.

They already have a custom title changed, so in case there is some activity from those accounts it is very easy to spot it.
I don't think we need to tag the dead, just to honor them is enough.

This applies for those who have a solid proof that the account owners are deceased, like in Zepher, Hal, now Bruno (RIP) etc.

The support for a custom title for Bruno in this topicThanks Theymos, Bruno has VIP status and custom title was overwhelming and rightfully so, Theymos also did exactly as we requested:
So I am curious, since there is every possibility that this users have handed down their account details to family members or others to use the forum for whatever activity they wished before they passed on; If a post should ever be made from that account, would it get tagged, as probably a hack on the account or account sale(allowed but frowned upon).

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I also want to use this thread to ask: What plans do you have for your BTT account in the face of death, if faced with a life threatening illness or disease, and left with a particular period of time to live, are you going to hand over login details to family members(if so, what would you wish they use the account for)or would you "retire" the account for good?