Our general policy is that a thread title should describe the contents of a thread; and I think it's very important to word the title of an obit thread very carefully. There's not a whole lot of space, but you can usually fit in a one-word description of the person who died - "Comedian Phil Harris" makes a lot more impact than just "Phil Harris." Add the name of the country, if it fits and makes sense.

If there's no date of death, we try to edit one in later. When you post dates at Mudcat, be mindful that we are in an international community -

• 2/1/09 is very confusing here.
• You could say Jan 2, 2009,
• but I find 2 Jan 2009 is very clear and takes up less space.

We add dates to obituaries because it helps make a 2002 obituary make sense if it's refreshed. We also try to add event dates for festivals and gig listings, when it makes sense.

The first message of the obituary should include a summary of the person's life, not just a link to a newspaper article that may go dead fairly soon.

Oh, and it it's a non-music obit, don't worry about it and don't break the discussion by posting messages about how the thread should be in the BS section. All obits start out up top in the music section, and we move the appropriate ones down below when we see them. No big deal.

-Joe-