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Comment by BIair | Hacker News Reader

Cost per inch, classifieds were always a big rip-off. Worse? Obituaries. Now many papers charge a fee for print, plus a web fee. Adding insult to injury. Who's going to disrupt the obits?

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I never thought to look but it turns out that Craigslist doesn't have obituaries (maybe not surprising to others). I figured there would be something in one of those other boxes that I never even look at, which is basically everything except the for sale and gigs sections. Are people against posting obituaries on the same page that can take you to "casual encounters"? Does CL find it a tad too morbid to include? It may not be their aspiration but hell, if CL had crossword puzzles, obituaries, and a "print digest" feature my grandmother would take to it in a second (she already uses it to shop for autos and whatnot, primarily as a supplement to the local paper).

Only old people care about obituaries on a regular basis. When they start reading other media (actually, when people who read other media get old), newspaper obituaries will be disrupted.

There may be legal requirements for posting death notices - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obituaries

Only old people read obituaries? What about real estate agents? Auctioneers? I'm sure people said no money existed in free classifieds. Except for Craig.

Sure, but I think few people buy obituaries to help out real estate agents. If those people want obituaries, then perhaps they can pay newspapers to run them for others for free.

In a world where people are increasingly connected to those that they care about, do we still need obituaries? They may become a thing of the past.

"Facebook to cost newspaperz Z billion in lost obituaries"

I think you'll have to wait about another 40 years. Most people I know who are over 40 don't use social media, and given trends, probably have another 40 years or so to go.

"He proposed on a Valentine's day, although he didn't do it face to face, he did it in one of the little Valentine bits in the paper. I think he had to pay for it by the word, because it just said 'Lee love Dawn, marriage?' which you know, I like, because it's not often you get to something that's both romantic and thrifty. "

Actually, most papers, including the one I work, will run a basic obit without charging you a dime. It's only when you want extended text or pictures or fancy fonts that it costs a dime.

You may be thinking of a "death notice" which is just the person's name, and date of death, but I really don't know if those are mandatory anymore.

My hometown newspaper used to print all hospital admissions and discharges every day. Unthinkable today, given privacy laws.

Not the one in my father's home town of ~12,000. ~$150.00 per column inch IIRC. That price was without pictures or fancy fonts.

That sounds absolutely insane. We would charge less than that per column inch for full color, and our _circulation_ is over 15k.

Foreclosure auctions have to be advertised publicly and the de facto standard is to publish in newspaper classifieds, too.

Facebook via memorializing user accounts.

Yeah, and Twitter, g+, etc.

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