After being a member of the MetaFilter Internet community for about six years, a man faked his own death. The only explanation either he or his — potentially also fake — accomplice offered once caught was that the whole thing was a "bad experiment or joke or whatever carried too far."
MetaFilter is a community weblog where members contribute links and comments. MetaFilter — frequently shortened to MeFi — membership requires a one-time sign-up fee of $5.
A man who went by the username "holdkris99," had paid his sign-up fee about six years ago and had been an active and beloved member of MetaFilter since that time. But on May 14, not long after holdkris99 had last been active on the site, MetaFilter administrators received an email from someone claiming to be the man's wife. This individual explained that holdkris99 had committed suicide over the weekend and that she wanted to let MetaFilter members know about the incident as the community had played a significant role in his life.
According to Jessamyn West — MetaFilter's director of community — the woman asked to write a post to explain what happened. MetaFilter admins setup a free account for her, waived the usual one-week waiting period which prevents new users from posting right away and guided her through the basics of the site.
Under the username "mrs holdkris99," the woman wrote a lengthy obituary of sorts. MetaFilter users commented on the post in great numbers, expressing sympathy and sadness. But as those comments poured in, MetaFilter admins were scratching their heads. They'd conducted a cursory search through holdkris99's social media history and noticed that there was activity which suggested that he was very much alive several days after he supposedly committed suicide.
West reached out to the individual who'd claimed to be holdkris99's wife and asked for clarification. Two emails came back in reply, within minutes of each other. One suggested that West might as well delete the obituary post at this point and the other explained that the whole thing was just a "bad experiment or joke or whatever carried too far."
At this point MetaFilter administrators decided that it was time to loop in the rest of the community. They drafted a post explaining what they knew, which wasn't easy according to West. "Good news: This guy is alive. Bad news: He faked his own death," she wrote, summing up the awkwardness.
No one seems to have a proper explanation for what happened, or why someone chose to fake his death after earning the trust and adoration of a community over the course of six years, but West suggests that occasionally there are simply "some people who may be creating a slightly alternative reality" for reasons of their own.
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