A Solution from Within the Community

My good friend Shiri Yeshua, the talented graphic designer who does the graphic design for Digital Dust (pro-bono), is also a talented fan-fiction writer. 

She brought to my attention a solution found within the fan-fiction community: in the website "Archive of Our Own", in clause B in their Terms of Use, the site offers you a "Fannish next-of-kin" solution: 

"Registered Archive users may designate a fannish next-of-kin. A next-of-kin agreement allows the transfer of content maintenance in the case of a user's permanent incapacitation or death... Both parties to the agreement must be registered users of the Archive"...

What I like about this solution is that you have to leave your creations to be taken care of by a fellow member of the fan-fiction community - you can't leave it to an outsider. I think it is a wise choice as this solution is organic to this unique world of content.

The decision to give control over this content to a fellow fan and not to a family member - who is an outsider to this community - is not due to a wish to deprive a family member of anything. It is because only a member of this community, who is already immersed in this sub-culture, will know how this community works and what is valuable to it, and his or her choices will most likely reflect and respect the wishes and style of the deceased community member.   

May more websites, platforms and service providers come up with organic solutions and let their users know what these solutions are, in a clear, transparent and accessible way (especially in Israel, if I may add).