Mydeathspace.com
Encyclopedia
MyDeathSpace.com is a website devoted to connecting the deaths of MySpace
account-holders to their news obituaries. It is notable due to media attention that it garnered over the practice of seeking out dead MySpace users such as Taylor Behl
and Anna Svidersky
.
It launched in January 2006, but did not receive national attention until March 2006. The site was started by Mike Patterson from San Francisco
, California
.
MyDeathSpace.com receives between 15,000 and 20,000 unique visitors per day. Patterson has reported receiving "75 percent hate mail and 25 percent fan mail".
On July 30, 2007, the site was refusing web traffic, perhaps due to a surge in popularity following a profile on CNN
's website. Since then, the site's popularity has declined dramatically.
The webmasters later posted a picture of the article on CNN.com and gave the following explanation:
As of August 12, 2007, the site is back online.
During 2011 the site again went down due to a reported "catastrophic hard-drive failure". The site has since come back online.
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
account-holders to their news obituaries. It is notable due to media attention that it garnered over the practice of seeking out dead MySpace users such as Taylor Behl
Taylor Behl
Taylor Marie Behl was a 17 year-old college freshman from Vienna, Virginia. She moved to Richmond, Virginia, in August 2005 to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. About two weeks later on Labor Day, September 5, 2005, Behl disappeared. Acting on a tip one month later, VCU police located her...
and Anna Svidersky
Anna Svidersky
Anna Esther Svidersky was a teenager who lived in the U.S. city of Vancouver, Washington, and was murdered while working in a McDonald's restaurant, by David Barton Sullivan, a twice-convicted schizophrenic sex offender...
.
It launched in January 2006, but did not receive national attention until March 2006. The site was started by Mike Patterson from San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
MyDeathSpace.com receives between 15,000 and 20,000 unique visitors per day. Patterson has reported receiving "75 percent hate mail and 25 percent fan mail".
Status
Due to its rapid growth and popularity, MyDeathSpace has had problems with availability. It was down for two weeks in November 2006 presenting viewers with the message "This IP address cannot be used for browsing." In December 2006, MyDeathSpace returned with the following explanation on the website:"Wow, now that was quite an outage! But what and why did it happen? Well, to put it in plain English, we outgrew our previous host. We received no warnings from them; they simply shut our site down and sent us an email telling us how we've exceeded the capabilities of our hosting plan. However, they were kind enough to offer us an upgrade for a mere $250 a month EXTRA. We declined. Since we were caught off guard, we had to scurry to find a host that could handle us and our users. We were in negotiations with one hosting company for about a week, but at the last minute those plans fell through (expensive licensing issues). We attempted to use another host (which is why you saw the "coming soon" page for a few days). This also fell through because; well... they just plain suck. We're hoping this will remain MyDeathSpace.com's new home for a while. Happy surfing..."
On July 30, 2007, the site was refusing web traffic, perhaps due to a surge in popularity following a profile on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's website. Since then, the site's popularity has declined dramatically.
The webmasters later posted a picture of the article on CNN.com and gave the following explanation:
"The Associated Press has written an article about MyDeathSpace.com, which has been picked up by ALL news sources effectively taking down MyDeathSpace.com. The traffic is causing the box to become completely unresponsive. Please stay tuned into this page for updates!!!"
As of August 12, 2007, the site is back online.
During 2011 the site again went down due to a reported "catastrophic hard-drive failure". The site has since come back online.