Dead useful?
Howard Lake | 5 January 1999 | News
uk.people.dead is a new UK-focused Usenet discussion forum that looked as if it might offer a promising source of fundraising research information. The newsgroup’s formal title is “UK obituaries and discussion of dead people”.
uk.people.dead is a new UK-focused Usenet discussion forum that looked as if it might offer a promising source of fundraising research information. The newsgroup’s formal title is “UK obituaries and discussion of dead people”. Its charter explains that it was established “for all discussion relating to dead people from a UK perspective. Postings are welcomed in respect of all dead people, whether famous or not, who had some connection with the UK.
However, early indications are not encouraging for fundraisers. Most posts to date have been trivial and of no practical use to fundraisers. Elvis’ name has, perhaps not surprisingly, cropped up several times. But then so have those of Mollie “Mrs Slocum” Sugden, and Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace and Gromit. The latter posts could have been useful for fundraisers planning to contact them about a celebrity appearance at their charity event. Are you sure that both celebs are still alive? Needless to say, the information posted was not entirely accurate, with reports of the deaths of some celebrities being somewhat exaggerated. Still, a periodic review of the newsgroup might yield some pointers to other resources for fundraising researchers.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.