William Peter Blatty, author of "The Exorcist"

Dick Gautier, of "Get Smart"

Francine York, 1960s/70s TV and film actress

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka has died

Can you link to a card of these people in this thread?

Mary Tyler Moore has died at 80.

Mike Connors (TV's "Mannix", in the late 1960s and 70s), passed away at 91

British actor John Hurt (The Elephant Man) has died

Bill Mullins, We should combine these threads, as we have two going at once

I think this one is for general obituaries while the other one is for people who actually appeared on a card so the cards can be shown there.

Having two threads is pointless. There is no reason why one thread can't have posts about people with or without cards in the same place.

quote:

Originally posted by Obi Wan Chrisobi:
Having two threads is pointless. There is no reason why one thread can't have posts about people with or without cards in the same place.

There are actually THREE threads in General Entertainment now, 2017 Obituaries, Non-Sport Obituaries and just plain Obituaries.

And yes, to make light of a dark subject, that is called overkill.

A short history of obituary threads at Card Talk:

For a long time, people have been noting the deaths of celebrities on this board, usually with an "R.I.P." thread dedicated to that person in the "General Entertainment Discussion" section of the board. If I noticed, I might mention a non-sports card connection to the person when they existed.

This being a non-sports board, I started an "Obituaries" thread in the GED section in 2014 in which I would note the deaths of people with NS card connections, and mention the cards (and sometimes post links to pictures of the cards). Mostly, people would discuss only the deaths of folks with cards, but after time, it turned into a general celebrity death thread.

So, to re-establish a thread dedicated solely to the deaths of people with NS Cards, I started this one ("Non-Sport Obituaries"). If someone dies and they have a card, I try and note it there if no one else already has. And I try and link to cards of anyone mentioned there, when I can find them.

So, there was already an existing place to note the passing of any celebrity. If they had a card, then the "Non-Sport Obituaries" thread. If they didn't, then the "Obituaries" thread. I suppose that Tommy C felt that it was worth starting a new thread for 2017, but I will continue to use the old ones.

Not a grave subject (pun intended ) that we are talking about, but it's Sunday morning and what else is there to do?

I think its fair to use a continuous thread to mention the passing of people with limited connection to the hobby or celebrities that may not be widely known.

For well-known people with large followings I see nothing wrong with a separate, though perhaps short lived (no pun intended) thread. I recently posted up the Carrie Fisher RIP thread. I thought she deserved her own mention.

I sort of felt to a lesser degree that John Hurt deserved his own listing, but I did not post it because he was mentioned here, without much fanfare. Nevertheless, with an impressive career that included Alien, Hellboy and Indiana Jones films, plus trading cards, relics and autograph cards, he is more than just another name on a long list.

The problem with a continuous obituary thread is that it discourages replies. The name has been mentioned, now let's move on. That is enough for some, but less than others deserve, and from a hobby standpoint, you might want to have more information about their cards.

Which brings up the thread about Non-Sport Obituaries. I completely agree with your intention Bill, these are people who had cards, so let's show the cards. The issue there is that some posters don't know the idea and others can't follow through. I just recently posted there about Mary Tyler Moore, another important celebrity. I wanted people to know that she did have an autograph in Essential Elvis, but I can't scan and don't know the mechanics of pulling pictures. You were kind enough to get the card's picture after me. I wanted to say more about her career, but having noted it in one obituary thread, I'm not going to compose the same reply in two other threads. That would be silly.

I guess my point is that having more creates less. People don't know which thread to use, so they use none. If someone is iconic to this hobby or to entertainment in general, they probably should not be lumped in with others at all. Sure the threads will not get many responses, but so what? We have plenty of short threads.

To be clear, I don't care how many obituaries threads are in play, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just saying that as a practical exercise, the forums are organic and people will post as they please, so no one is going to be able to police where members decide to leave death announcements when there are several places to do it and they might even create more.

Having one thread keeps it all in one place. People can post death notices, reply to same and even post pictures of cards featuring them if applicable. By having multiple threads on the same topic, things get lost in the shuffle and get overlooked. Sometimes simpler is better.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I can't scan and don't know the mechanics of pulling pictures.

It's very seldom that I will scan a card. Usually I just find an existing image, right-click and (in Chrome) "Open Image in a New Tab", go to that tab and copy its URL, and then post that URL under the Image button here. I don't use ebay images because they are too ephemeral and will often disappear in a short period of time.

Bill, I have IE, but not in Chrome and I don't know what you mean by the Image button here.

I appreciate the instructions, but this is a skill I never mastered. I'm lucky I can do the basics.

In IE, right-click on an image and bring up the window. At the bottom is "Properties" -- click on it. There should be a line that says
Address:
(URL)
That displays the URL of the image -- copy it verbatim, and you can use that image elsewhere. (some folks and sites frown on "hotlinking" like this, but I've never had a problem with doing so).

When I said "Image button", I was referring to the row of small icons across the pop-up window in which you reply to posts here (smiley face, palette, "URL", etc. The 10th one is a small green and white picture. Click on it while making a reply, and it will give you a dialogue in which you can embed an image in a post here, using the images's URL.

Thanks Bill, I'm going to play around with this. Never looked at those other buttons, just thought it was for Smiley faces.

See how much you can learn on Card Talk.