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Comment by starkred | Hacker News Reader

I'd think a lot less of the deceased after a display like this. Their best friend may-or-may-not have wanted to sleep with their wife but whatever, leave me out of it. I'm trying to pay my respects and mourn a friend, not get caught up in some love triangle.

Of course the deceased could also have lied for reasons best known to themselves. The 'best mate' is not in the best condition to defend themselves if it turned out the deceased was delusional.

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Agreed. It just seems like a dick thing to do (assuming the impact is negative).

You’re dead. Your opinions don’t matter any more. You don’t even get the satisfaction of spilling the beans, because, well, you’re dead.

Sure, maybe nobody will know your wife cheated on you. But that’s ok, because you’re dead. Why bring more pain to the living?

Now, if you were have someone crash the funeral to tell your spouse how much you loved them. Great, nice idea.

But the vindictive examples seem like a complete waste of time and only hurt people. Especially putting the gay biker (apparently not everyone knew)). Great friend he turned out to be.

This is some wack logic. If I murdered you and stole your car, would you mind if I got away with the crime? What's that, you'd be upset? Doesn't matter, you're dead.

This article has nothing (zero) do to with crimes. Not sure why you went off on that tangent.

So only crimes are wrong? The coffin confessor does mention that he offers to confess crimes after someone dies.

Obviously you don't get that satisfaction when you are dead. That's why this guy's job exists. He lets you get that satisfaction before you die.

Message boards may operate on similar principals. I get the satisfaction of communicating my point as I write this, even though I don't know who if anyone may read it.

Seriously, write a damn letter.

Right? No matter how you go out, just put an envelope taped to the fridge with "IF I DIE" written in big letters on the front and be done with it. Why rely on some flaky big tech solution to this?

The scenario of the gay biker is much more likely to get the desired message across to the intended audience than a letter. If the family or friends that visited his empty home were hostile to gays or deemed it inappropriate, they may have just quietly concealed the letter.

Christopher Hitchens published an article shortly before his demise to reassure people of his views on atheism, lest any clergy or family get the urge to fabricate the good news of his deathbed conversion. For those of us that aren't writers for Vanity Fair a service like this could be useful.

It shows that the deceased took life and the living for granted. The deceased had a whole lifetime to say such things, and in the end they were such a coward that they would literally rather die than live a true, honest, authentic life.

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