Ashmoria passed away last night.

[Farnhamia]

Here's what Fris said about this:

NERVUN did note that because of the size and age of Ash's nation, the name will never be released from the Boneyard, so we won't have any Ashmoria impersonators suddenly appearing.

I actually just had an idea right now, for a way to allow nations to become memorials in-game without risking the problem of players faking their deaths: Make the "memorialization" only available to nations that have been around for a sufficient amount of time to demonstrate commitment (say, with a population of over a billion), and make it irreversible - once you've made your nation a memorial, your login is disabled and you can't get it back, and your forum account is also permanently blocked from posting any more. That would really discourage people from taking it lightly. Of course, there would need to be several layers of "are you sure?" warnings before the point of no return.

I'm thinking that a "memorialized" nation would be automatically removed from the WA (if it is a member), and also moved to a special closed region that is exclusively for memorial nations. Then, everything about the nation (including the population) would be permanently frozen in place, never to change again. The ability of the player to login to the nation would be permanently disabled, and the nation would no longer be able to receive telegrams. But it would remain in existence, and people would be able to see it and remember the player we lost.

Of course, I have no idea how much coding work would be necessary to make that happen, or if it's even possible within the framework of the game. But I just wanted to throw my idea out there. NationStates is already almost 15 years old, and still going strong. As the decades pass, there will be more and more deceased players. It would be nice to have a permanent in-game feature to honour them.

Well, yes, but to what end? Are you going to go visit that memorialized nation? It's not like you can leave flowers or something. I think the page Minoa set up on the NSIndex is fine. We could link these RIP threads there, perhaps.

[The Unified American Federation]

May Ash rest in peace. Hopefully now, she is at a peace which most dream of. However, I sincerely give my condolences to her Family and to those affected by her departure.

She will be Missed.

Rest in Peace.

[Constantinopolis]

I can't imagine how hard it must be. I have lost people that I loved very much, but I was never the main person in charge of setting their final affairs in order. I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I just remembered another gameplay thing you should know about. Nations have the option to go into something called "vacation mode", which puts them in a kind of stasis (they don't receive any new issues, so basically the main gameplay mechanic is suspended), but also makes it so that they only need one login every 60 days in order to avoid being deleted. It's designed to allow people to go on extended vacations without needing to login, as the name implies, but you can set a nation into vacation mode and just leave it that way permanently, too. If you go into the nation's settings, there will be a checkbox that simply says "vacation mode" that you can enable.

I assume you'll probably want to do this with Ashmoria. There have been times in the past when I didn't participate in the game for long periods of time, so I set my nation to vacation mode and told myself to login once a month (since the actual deadline is 60 days, if I told myself to login once a month I could get away with forgetting every now and then without my nation being deleted).

Ah, thank you... I noticed the option earlier when I was trying to find out what I could do about the password, but I wasn't certain if the setting could cause any problems. Does it disable population growth as well? I'd like to keep her nation as unchanged as possible, beyond writing "in memorium" on a biographical page, should one exist.

No, there is no way to disable population growth right now. However, if you do not answer any issues and if you're not a member of the World Assembly, population growth will be the only thing that still happens to the nation. Occasionally it may also move up in the global rankings for some thing or another, because several variables grow in step with population.

Well, yes, but to what end? Are you going to go visit that memorialized nation? It's not like you can leave flowers or something. I think the page Minoa set up on the NSIndex is fine. We could link these RIP threads there, perhaps.

Well, I'm nostalgic by nature, so, for my part, I would definitely go look at the memorialized nation of a friend who passed away, every now and then. But I'm not sure about other people, of course. It was just a thought.

[Trotskylvania]

Oh my god.

I didn't even know she was ill. Ashmoria has been a fixture here forever. While I didn't know her very well, I've known her for ten years now... It's like a long time regular at the pub passing away. My heart goes out to you; she will be missed.

[Ashmoria]

Ah, thank you... I noticed the option earlier when I was trying to find out what I could do about the password, but I wasn't certain if the setting could cause any problems. Does it disable population growth as well? I'd like to keep her nation as unchanged as possible, beyond writing "in memorium" on a biographical page, should one exist.

No, there is no way to disable population growth right now. However, if you do not answer any issues and if you're not a member of the World Assembly, population growth will be the only thing that still happens to the nation. Occasionally it may also move up in the global rankings for some thing or another, because several variables grow in step with population.

It's ironic in a way... Once, when I remarked at how large her nation was, she complained to me that she'd wanted to run a small country, but that the population would grow all the same. Now, the one aspect of her nation that she didn't want to grow, will grow without her.

Oh my god.

I didn't even know she was ill. Ashmoria has been a fixture here forever. While I didn't know her very well, I've known her for ten years now... It's like a long time regular at the pub passing away. My heart goes out to you; she will be missed.

None of us did until she was in the hospital, actually. She made a choice not to tell us.

[The Blaatschapen]

Sharing it between a few family members is also an option.

Just make sure you only share it with people who you can trust to be respectful and not break site rules. Sharing nations means you also share responsibility if someone breaks site rules. We had one case in the past where a guy passed his nation on to someone else, but then the new owner got it deleted for rule-breaking. I don't want Ashmoria to end up like that.

I am pretty careless about maintaining my own nations, so you're probably better off keeping Ashmoria in the family rather than trusting me with it. Not that I don't want to help. I just know how sloppy I am about allowing nations to cease to exist because I forgot to log into them.

The only people I'd really consider asking would be her sister or niece... Neither of them would be likely to do more than keep her account open, much less disrespect her memory like that.

Would another moderator be comfortable with such a responsibility? I only ask because I believe that her other family members might take it poorly were they to let her account lapse, having been asked to keep it open.

I run an auto login script. I could add her. It would just log in and tell me that the nation has Telegrams. Though it requires me actually logging in myself to read those. Naturally I would not do that with a nation that's not mine. I could inform you about it all the same.

[Trotskylvania]

None of us did until she was in the hospital, actually. She made a choice not to tell us.

That must have been difficult. How long had she known, if you don't mind me asking?

[Ashmoria]

The only people I'd really consider asking would be her sister or niece... Neither of them would be likely to do more than keep her account open, much less disrespect her memory like that.

Would another moderator be comfortable with such a responsibility? I only ask because I believe that her other family members might take it poorly were they to let her account lapse, having been asked to keep it open.

I run an auto login script. I could add her. It would just log in and tell me that the nation has Telegrams. Though it requires me actually logging in myself to read those. Naturally I would not do that with a nation that's not mine. I could inform you about it all the same.

That sounds like it would be ideal, thank you. I plan on answering any questions people have for a few more days, but could you send me a PM covering what I need to do on my end?

None of us did until she was in the hospital, actually. She made a choice not to tell us.

That must have been difficult. How long had she known, if you don't mind me asking?

Nearly a year, from what I understand.

[Aromanticism]

That's terrible! RIP.

[Old Tyrannia]

I'm so sorry to hear about this. Ashmoria was a staple of the NSG community, and her loss will not go unnoticed. My deepest condolences to her family and friends. Thank you for taking the time to inform us and answer some of the questions in this thread, it's quite heartening to hear that NS was as much a part of Ashmoria's life as she was a part of our community.

[Stellonia]

I never really knew Ashmoria, but nonetheless, I wish to extend my condolences to her friends and family.

[The Archregimancy]

I've only just discovered this thread.

Ashmoria and I had our occasional differences, no doubt, particularly on issues regarding religion; but we also engaged in debates where we shared information and agreed on a common analysis. Our last serious exchange was over the mental health of the President of the United States, where both of us agreed it was worth speculating whether he might have dementia or other form of cognitive impairment. Sometimes we disagreed furiously, but so long as we stayed away from theology and the historiography of classical-period Mediterranean monotheism, we shared more in common than either of us was probably prepared to admit; apparently those things in common included cancer.

In truth, I suspected something was wrong. I don't know if it's because we are/were both cancer patients of an older than typical demographic for NSG ('cancerdar'?), but while I was unable to put my finger on what, something hadn't seemed quite right.

My sincere and heartfelt condolences to any friends and family of Ashmoria who might read this thread.

[Franceburg]

Rest in peace, Ashmoria

[The Blaatschapen]

My thoughts and condolences go out to her loved ones. It's a sad day to hear about this. I always found her to be funny and one of the more loveable and well grounded players around here.

[Crylante]

I never got to talk to her, but she seemed like a good person. Sad to hear that.

[Ostroeuropa]

(Idk if this is self-absorbed or not.)

I searched through our posts together to jog the mind. There weren't that many, and they weren't that deep, but she was a fixture of the place. I suppose it's like seeing someone around your class or job for years and then one day they just aren't anymore.

I didn't know she was ill. I didn't know she was a she. I didn't know her much at all. I don't know how many of you are simply being polite, or how many people who disliked her are refraining from posting. I recall I thought of her as one of the decent ones, though cannot think why. Familiarity maybe, despite all that I didn't know.

I remember not feeling the need to back her up in an argument, that is a good sign.
And, evidently, she hadn't said anything to piss me off enough to take major notice.

I remember that the most we probably talked was the just gone US election,
I remember she supported Clinton and I found that odd, but in hindsight I don't anymore. She certainly did not show her age or seem out of touch.
It was nice to have a Clinton supporter prepared to be direct and reasonable in why she supported her candidate.

Are none of you bothered by how obviously the media is shilling for Clinton?

no

I wish they would do MORE so as to ensure that Donald trump has no chance to win.

That's an honest answer, and one I've come around to.
Did she know that?

We were both here years. 294 posts together. It's not much, but there it is. I think... I miss her.

[The Archregimancy]

Her child. I'm using her account because that's how things have been done on most other sites I've been on... My apologies, should I have sent an e-mail to the moderators instead?

Personally I feel that would've been more appropriate, as it was the moderators who notified this community the last time we lost a longstanding member, and sanctioned the thread relating to that individual's passing.

The circumstances there were very different. When Dyakovo died, we were concerned about how the news would leak out since some people clearly already knew. We didn't want it to accidentally slip out, however well-intentioned that slip might have been. We wanted to make sure the news was announced in an appropriately respectful manner.

Here, no one could possibly have known without Ash's family member letting the community know, and I see absolutely no problem with how this difficult news was announced.

[Lady Scylla]

At 2:45 AM yesterday, Ashmoria passed away from complications related to cancer, at the age of 59.

I don't entirely know how close she was to this forum (nor how close any of you were to her), but I do know that this was the only online community that she regularly participated in. She would regularly describe to me some of the debates she had here, about how tenacious many of the participants were, and how colorful some members of the board were.

Nationstates had been one of her favorite hobbies for nearly ten years, in a time when so many other communities had moved to Facebook. I thank you for that, no matter what role you played in her life.

God dammit. RIP Ash.

Why is Ashmoria posting to say Ashmoria passed?

Who are you, OP?

Her child. I'm using her account because that's how things have been done on most other sites I've been on... My apologies, should I have sent an e-mail to the moderators instead?

You're fine, sorry for your loss.

[Zottistan]

Jeez, that's awful. I feel like she'd been here forever. My condolences to the family.

[Germanic Scyths]

May she rest in piece. I will do dua (prayer) for her. Condoleances to you OP.

[Benuty]

Damn...another leaves the tethers of this life.

Rest in peace Ashmoria you won't be forgotten.

[Ifreann]

Man, fuck cancer.

[Arkinesia]

Another member of the family leaving us too soon. Ash's family and friends are in my thoughts today.

[Naturality II]

I'll miss reading her posts.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Ah, thank you... I noticed the option earlier when I was trying to find out what I could do about the password, but I wasn't certain if the setting could cause any problems. Does it disable population growth as well? I'd like to keep her nation as unchanged as possible, beyond writing "in memorium" on a biographical page, should one exist.

If you wish to do this, all you need to do is create a new factbook page (on the nation page, there's a hyperlink called "factbook" and at the bottom should be a button that says "Add new factbook").

Dunno if you've seen it, or not, yet, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to point it out.