Ethics Question?

Question:I have found info that implies that a person (who is being searched for at Yahoo Answers and was thought to be alive) died in 2001. Should I publicly post what I have found? (The info itself is considered public since it was in a newspaper and is in the SSDI.)

I will not use private email or messaging.

On the one hand, I think the person has a right to know, but on the other this is a less than ideal way to find this out, to say the least. I also have no way of knowing this person's mental state.

Please help me to decide.

PS I am posting this here since we often get these search requests and I believe we should all consider this...

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have found info that implies that a person (who is being searched for at Yahoo Answers and was thought to be alive) died in 2001. Should I publicly post what I have found? (The info itself is considered public since it was in a newspaper and is in the SSDI.)

I will not use private email or messaging.

On the one hand, I think the person has a right to know, but on the other this is a less than ideal way to find this out, to say the least. I also have no way of knowing this person's mental state.

Please help me to decide.

PS I am posting this here since we often get these search requests and I believe we should all consider this...

This is definitely the toughest question / issue here. I think most of the regulars here do our sincere best to help persons, but looking for living persons always has this exact risk. I always take a deep breath to reply on these.. 99% are completely valid, and there is sometimes the fear it might be a stalker. I evaluate by nothing more than gut instinct sometimes. Many times, I do it carefully, by giving links to various search places that focus on such (ie adoptions, so forth). If there is indication that it is a minor, doing the searching, I will always back off... since the parent is the one to make that determination (the lost parent may be lost for a darn good reason).
sometimes, I simply give variables, and extend the offer to contact me off the board. Which is a way of helping without violation of yahoo.
I agree with the lady above.. there IS the chance of being a duplicate name. One option is to post some alternatives, including a link to the ssdi. My opinion is that there is no ideal way to present "hard" news. And, since they have posted the search... clearly it matters to find something. It is hard if it turns out to be a loss. You might "pad" it by suggesting that ssdi is one place that can be checked.
I know that everyone here who spends time and energy regularly, wants to find 'the best' for the posters. Sometimes, we don't have that option.

I think the best thing you can do is to post the link you have found and let the person look at it for themselves. It might be the same name, but a different person. Slim as the chance may be, it is still possible. It would be the most logical thing to do. Morally, it wold be the better thing to do. Give the person a chance to experience the information first hand, not as a sad second.

I have had this same thing happen to me about five times now, the last one being just before Christmas. I emailed the lady privately and told her what I had found and that I thought it might be the person they were so desperate to find, they hadn't seen him in around thirty years, they had no idea where he was, or what his circumstances were. They had argued and her brother had just walked out after. They never saw him alive again after the argument, but my research gave them closure.
The lady couldn't thank me enough and put a thank you on this forum, I haven't seen her avatar since so I don't know how things have settled for her and her mum and family.
I just thought that after so long of not knowing , they should finally have closure.

I think I would email the person directly.

I think in the case you presented, where a person believed to be living is found to be deceased from an ethical standpoint is not a problem. It would be no different than the person asking if someone could find info on this person who died.

Of course, there is a potential emotional difficulty of telling someone that the person they are looking for has died. But as we all know, genealogy can be brutal at times. But remember, the person is actually asking on Y!Answers. I'm not sure in this type of forum how we could do anything different than present facts as we believe them. What you might do is temper the "find" as a true genealogist would temper any find. Bracket it with verbage such as "I found a person with that name listed in the SSDI (include details). This might be the person you are looking for but I have no way to know for sure." That way, you have presented the facts you have found, but not in an absolute/stark way. But gives them information to follow up. And we all know, nothing is absolute in genealogy - in might not be the same person after all - so tempering it that way probably should be done anyway.

I think it's great that you are considering the emotional aspects of genealogical information. So many just throw out the facts without consideration for how those facts may affect others. Good job.

Post the link - this might be the only way they can find out