Has anyone here communicated with Little_Dragon since March 28th? That was the last date he logged onto Renderosity. Upon other boards he usually haunts, it has been even longer. I'm hoping he has merely gone on vacation because he is normally online somewhere nearly everyday. Frankly, I'm growing just a tad concerned. 

I can understand and honor his desire for privacy, but he can be so cryptic. He oftens jokes about being several hundred years old, but other times he'll comment upon something that hints at a more realistic age. One time he mentioned watching "Captain Video" when it first aired on television. It debuted upon the the long extinct DuMont network in 1949. Another time he claimed to have seen the original "King Kong" when it first ran in theaters. That was 1933. If he didn't write those things to purposely throw one off the track, those statements would suggest he is a minimum of 74 years old (assuming he was less than one year old in 1933). If such is really the case, I wonder if his absence is due to age related health issues. 

Little Dragon, if you read this post, please let us know your status. If you've felt the need for a sabbatical, fine; we'll respect your wishes and not bother you until you are ready to return. Just assure us you are okay.

We hope to hear from you soon. Take care of yourself.

Sincerely,

Bill and the rest of the "gang" here at the Renderosity Poser board

[Moderators, could you please convert this thread into a sticky?  That way it won't get lost in the high turnover of this forum.]

bump

While we're waiting for the sticky...

Now I am concerned as well :( Hope it's false alarm...

Oh and.. does anyone here remember his real name? I got an email from him once (one of his things) but I can't for the life of me remember the name... but MAYBE it's still in my adress book? If so, we could at least email him and let him know we're concerned...

Yes, I know his real name, or at least, the one he provides with his e-mail.  (Being so secretive, it could be a "cover" as well.)  I'm torn between passing it to you and honoring LD's request for solitude.

I've posted these notices upon several boards for the very reason that he has NOT responded to my e-mails for several weeks.   I know what some who read this may think, "Bill, you probably irritated him."  I will admit there is always that remote possibilty, but I'd like to believe our last few exchanges were quite cordial.

Argh!  I loathe moral dilemmas!

Sincerely,

Bill

no, i wasn't thinking you irritated him.  actually, i had just been thinking how unlike him it was not to have posted in the newly revived chakat thread, nor to have posted some "in progress" info on it or such.  i really hope you hear from him.

Yes, he is usually logged in more often.  I hope he's ok.

Quote - I'm torn between passing it to you and honoring LD's request for solitude.

I fully understand that. Can't you just PMme his first name so I can see if I have that in my adress book at all? Im not even sure it was on this computer I got that email....

And.. "request for solitude" doesn't necessarily equal being a total hermit. I'd say this is a cause for alarm bells. L_D is ALWAYS here... Well usually...

Just adding my voice to those who hope all is well with him. He helped me Mimicfy Robby and B9! Without him they'd be speachless!

Hmmm, why can't an admin look at his account information and telephone him to make sure he's alright? 

Would YOU want to get a telephhone call from Renderosity if you were on vacation? I know I wouldn't! Yes, we're concerned, but let's respect people's rights to privacy in the meantime.

Quote - Would YOU want to get a telephhone call from Renderosity if you were on vacation? I know I wouldn't! Yes, we're concerned, but let's respect people's rights to privacy in the meantime.

The thing is that no one knows if he is on vacation or sick, or worse.  Given that, I would feel glad that someone cared enough about me to check up on me. I'm sure if things are well with him, that he wouldn't mind and would be happy to know that people care about him.

I'm not saying LD wouldn't want to know we care, I'm just not so sure getting calls from admin is the way to go about showing it. Certainly not if he's passed away and it's his children fielding calls from total strangers. If anyone has a physical mailing address, a Best Wishes/Get Well Soon/Hope You're Alive card wouldn't be out of line, but that's where I'd stop. Just don't expect a response if he's not answering his emails in the first place.

Yeah well... That's what was thought about MondoJake, too, when he stopped answering my mails... And then I found out he had passed away...

I'd rather care once too often than not at all.

Quote - Yeah well... That's what was thought about MondoJake, too, when he stopped answering my mails... And then I found out he had passed away...

I'd rather care once too often than not at all.

Exactly. I had a similar experience with one of my online friends last year.  

I see nothing wrong with the admin stepping in and making contact with a member, especially if that member has been pretty reliably around and then just suddenly isn't.

All I'm sayin' is our "right to know" stops at their "right to privacy". I hope you can understand that.

If he is on vacation, great for him ... and that is one heck of a vacation, but definitely not unheard of at all.  I would seriously worry if it got to be a month+ and nothing.  Could have been so many things.  I'm sure he will appreciate everyone's concern when he does return.  He is thought of fondly by, dare I say, pretty much everyone. 

Here's to his happy return.

-Tim

PS> What were the last threads he was involved in about?   I assume nothing mentioned was out of the ordinary?

Perhaps surgery? That can take a few weeks. Perhaps his computer broke or is being serviced?

I hope he is ok. LD has always been one of my favorite people. God knows that's a short list. :) I hope he is okay.

that so many people care is really nice. i hope he is ok. if i were concerned myself, i'd comb google and forums in which he was known for any publicly available information i can find. if i had a name and a proximate location, i'd probably scour telephone books too. and i'd ask people who had previously worked with him (if there are any) whether they'd heard from him, whether they had a contact address, etc. this type of situation can be really worrisome. however, i'm with mizrael. especially since the person was so private that he didn't even let people know his legal name; that strongly indicates that he would not like to be contacted by random site admins. i see lots of things wrong with admins using the information i had to give for purchases to trace me for reasons not related to those purchases, and i hope renderosity admins don't. when i worked on the livejournal abuse team we were not allowed to contact individuals at their private residences for any reason at all. we were only permitted to call the police and give the police personal information of a person if we had clear evidence of imminent danger to the person's life, such as a suicide post giving details like "tonight i will kill myself. i have the pills, and my parents will be out of town.". i thought then, and still think now, that this was a sound policy. people's right to privacy should trump almost all other interests other people might have. if people wanted us to know more about them, they would have told us.

Gareee mentioned on the DAZ board that he talked to him a few weeks ago and LD was really busy with maybe some contract work so that could be why he has been scarce. Not sure. Just thought I would pass that along. Hope all is well.

Sometimes you burn out on a board too ... especially when you're less of a lurker and more of a helper.  And sometimes "real life" gets in the way.

I have to agree with the sentiment that the info should not be used to contact him.  This would be for "our" own selfish reasons and would not benefit him in any way.  If something has happened to him, trying contact him is not going to help at this point.  It would only serve us and our need/concern/curiousity about his well-being.  REst assured, I'm sure he appreciates it no matter what the outcome.

Add me to the list of concerned people.  I hope the gent is ok.

Dragons have a way of showing up where and when you least expect them, as I recall. Part of their charm.

I hope LD is OK.

As for the use of private information for such a purpose, it would be a grave breach of the privacy policy of this and other sites. It would be  ethically wrong.  What is confidential must remain confidential. Any breach of that confidentiality by anyone, for any reason would be actionnable.

If we can't trust the people  who are supposed to protect our privacy and our identities to do so vigorrously then why the hell should we accept (or be forced) to give it to them? Why should we do business with them?  It's a two way street.
No...bad idea.
Q

Hmm I can see I'm a minority here, but I don't see it as breach of privacy at all if an admin did call him. Quite the contrary, I think it showed that someone cared enough about me to do so. Privacy or not, we're not talking about making his name and adress public here. We're talking about letting one admin, who HAS that information already, use it to check up on him.

But I can see the general consensus here is to just let people be. Worry, but do nothing.

But I can see the general consensus here is to just let people be.
Worry, but do nothing.
Welcome to the world of humans.

I'm about as private as anybody, and I hate the telephone with a passion. But I certainly would not be offended if my disappearance resulted in an "interruption" like a solictious phone call or email made in your behalf by the admins. I live alone, and in this case, it's a bit late for this, but I worry sometimes that I will die and my dog will starve while he waits for the world to notice.

I hope LD's Ok. He's one of the good guys.
Mick

Adding my voice to all those who hope that Little Dragon is OK. He's such a nice, talented, creative, always helpful guy - I really admire him a lot and hope his absence doesn't mean anything scary.

Since he's not around any websites for a month already, I guess sending a "How are you" e-mail is rather silly ? And I don't think asking admins to phone him is too much, after all we care for our own dragons ;)

Quote - I live alone, and in this case, it's a bit late for this, but I worry sometimes that I will die and my dog will starve while he waits for the world to notice.

Ditto.  Both of my parents are deceased, and I only have one sibling and he and I aren't close at all.  He lives about 15 minutes drive from me and we talk on the phone once, maybe twice a year.  I haven't seen him since Christmas 2004, and haven't talked to him since probably fall last year.

Two years ago I got really sick and dropped off of the net for a week or so and then ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks.  I managed to send an email to my brother's ex wife (my brother doesn't have email), and told her I  had called an ambulance and was going to the hospitall, but I didn't manage to notify any of my online friends.  They all knew I wasn't feeling well, but they didn't know the extent of my illness or that I had gone to the hospital.

I don't use my real last name on the net; only a few people online know what it is, and that's only because I've known them along time and we've sent parcels back and forth in the mail.  One of my "online" friends who know's my last name had tried to email me but the mails were going unanswered, and I my phone wasn't being answered either.  He decided he would try calling the local hospitals where I live before trying to track down my brother. Imagine my surprise when the phone in my room rang  on my 3rd day in, and it was a familiar voice from Memphis :)  I was quite surprised but not offended.  I asked him to contact 2 other people I was close with online and let them know what was going on.  Apparently people in the communites I was in at the time were quite worried and were relieved to hear that I was alive.  I've since given him my brother's name, address and phone number in the event that I should "vanish" one day from the internet.  This way at least he will know why.

We are more than just "user names" and "text". We are all people and our lives are interwoven together because of this community.

Be as private as you want, but that isn't going to stop people from caring about you as a person....and friend :)

There is nothing worse than "seeing" someone daily, or "talking" to them daily, only to have them just up and vanish without a word and not knowing what happened to them.

I am positive he is okay. I recall that he normally is hard to get into touch and does not frequent the forums when real life gets in the way. (Real Life being Work.) I wonder if he does not do something with Accounting, because I believe it was this time of year once before that he was out of touch for some time.

I am positive he is okay. I recall that he normally is hard to get into touch and does not frequent the forums when real life gets in the way. (Real Life being Work.) I wonder if he does not do something with Accounting, because I believe it was this time of year once before that he was out of touch for some time.

I am positive he is okay. I recall that he normally is hard to get into touch and does not frequent the forums when real life gets in the way. (Real Life being Work.) I wonder if he does not do something with Accounting, because I believe it was this time of year once before that he was out of touch for some time.

80 million Americans last year had their IDs ripped off, and if I remember correctly those were just third quarter numbers. Most victims don't even know about it.  According to Police services these were probably inside jobs (ie. abuse of a privacy policies)... Now that's more than a third of the active population of the US and the number only covers the US,. Imagine what it is worldwide.
Do you think we're facing a crisis here?

I think protection of and respect for private information is a serious concern . I expect a corporation to exclusively use information for the  purposes  they stated they were collecting  it for. If you think you need help there are specialized agencies that do just that. They do it ethically, respecting the laws, the dignity,as well as the private wishes and needs of the isolated. You may, if you wish, ask people here to periodically check up on you and share your coordinates with that person.

LD is a wonderful person, one of the most intelligent and talented individuals here. I am gratefull for his many kindenesses. Had he asked me to check up on him I would have considered it an honour to do so. He didn't. I am human enough to respect his wishes.
Q

Darn PHP hang up! Sorry for the multiple posts.

I had my figures all wrong in my previous post.. Instead of editing it, I thought it appropriate to issue an erratum and convey the necessary apologies.

The first 9 months of 2005 saw  an increase  of people exposed to ID theft of 80%, to between 8 or 9 million (that's the conservative extrapolation) and not, as I stated , 80 million.  Obviously not 1/3 of the active population. I shouldn't have relied on memory even if it is usually quite faithful.

The figure is for the US only and it is true that the potential victims are not always informed or sufficiently informed  of the facts by the governmental or non-governmental  organizations involved. Having gone through this I can vouch for that.

The total number of victims or potential victims over the last decade is unknown, but we can speculate.  I still think that this number is outrageous and that it points to a crisis.

So I'm truly sorry for my mistake. I did not intend to mislead. I offer my most sincere apologies.  If allowed a fig leaf I'll blame it on the pneumonia I've been struggling with for the past few weeks. Maybe that'll shame it out of the lungs...
:)
Q

using publicly available sources to track somebody isn't the same as "doing nothing". most people are actually fairly easy to find. if they're not, then i would presume they don't want to be found and honour that. maybe this is a good opportunity for the people who would want to be checked up on to designate a person who will let their online pals know when something is wrong. pick somebody computer-literate. my regular emergency backup, who will be notified by police or hospital if there has been a problem, has my livejournal password and a short list of further contacts to whom to send email, and they know about my online hangouts. that way nobody needs to make hard choices as to whether to violate my privacy.

What are the terms and conditions when you give your number to 'rosity? I don't remember what mine were. I do know i wouldn't be happy if they gave my info out to others. I wouldn't be happy if they called me to sell me something. However if they called out of concern or wanted to talk about something relevant to the well-being of the site I wouldn't mind at all. Especially if it was someone I interacted with online semi-regularly like certain mods and admins. I think very highly of Little Dragon. There have been a number of times over the years that I've posted in the Community Forum that we should have more than just an Artist of the Year, we should have awards for outstanding members of the community - people who've helped the community in ways beyond mere artistry. I've repeatedly suggested that Little Dragon and Dr. Geep deserve such recognition (among others). I must admit I find it a bit surprising that as well-known as he is and has been no one knows him well enough to contact directly. On the other hand, this thread is still relatively new.

Well I do not know LD, as I am very new to the forums here, but let me tell you a couple of stories for those of you who are concerned about "privacy policies". First off I had talked to a guy on a regular basis in a diabetes community.......Now yeah diabetes is and can be a pretty serious thing. Well I had been talking to hin in the chat room and all of a sudden he stopped talking.....which was very unlike him. Well everyone else was getting worried about him along with myself. Now granted I did have his first and last name. Well after quite a long time, I decided to call his home......no answer. That really was unlike him. So I decided to call the hospitals to see if he was there, and if I didn't get ahold of him there, then I was then going to call the police......as there is such a thing as a well being check. Well sure enough he was in a hospital........and do you know this man in his late 50's started to cry and tell me he was sure glad there was someone out there that cared about him and his health and life.

Another situation.......this is REAL LIFE!!!!! My mother had all kinds of health problems, she had asthma, diabetes, and congestive heart failure. She had called me back in July I believe and asked me if I could take her to the doctor. Well it was a Saturday and there were no dr's open on Sat. so I took her to the hospital. She had been biten by a cat on her foot and she had some serious infection going on. So they admitted her, well when she got out of the hospital, they sent her home with oxygen as her O2 level was on the low side. Shortly after she got out of the hospital, my mother in law had to have a triple bypass. Well once things got a bit calmed down from that, we were all still trying to watch money as the little dinky town we live in doesn't have much in it. The closest hospital is 20 miles away and that is 40 miles round tirp a day. My mother inlaw had to go to the bigger hospital which is 50 miles away which is a 100 mile round trip a day.  Anyhow, my mother was getting along so much better with being on the oxygen. I had talked to her around the fist of September and knowing we were all trying to watch money, we hadn't talked for awhile. I tried to call her on the 7th of September and got no answer.....okay maybe she had went to town to get some groceries.........well after trying to call for 9 hours, yes I said 9 hours.........I was really getting worried..........Well by that time the convience store we have in town closed.......yes they really do roll up the town at sundown. Anyhow, we didn't have enough gas to make it over there to her house which was about 10 miles away. So I called the sherriff to do a well being check on her, and I got that very dreadful phone call at around midnight telling me that my mother had passed away. They had also speculated that she had been gone for about a week. She had animals in the house that were close to starving to death which I went over the next day and got them.

This just goes to prove, no matter how well you think a person is doing.........that health problems can interact and either leave you where you can't tell someone either online or on the phone what is going on. Yes I know there is such things as privacy acts and such, but at the same time with someone like LD from what I have read, there are enough calls to warrant a check on someone. I am not saying okay an admin comes along and says okay LD's real name is John Doe and he lives such and such place and his phone number is 555-555-5555. They could simply do a well being call, to check and make sure everything is okay and let him know the community is worried about him.

Think about it............would you rather have someone atleast check up on him and get a leave me alone, or would you rather sit here and stew over wheither he is okay and still with us here on this earth. And those that say well there is a privacy act........how would you all feel when you would happen to get the message that something had/has happened? (God forbid I hope not as I would love to meet LD) I know I for one would be pretty upset if I was screaming about the privacy act and then were to find out that something pretty serious had happened!!!!!!

Just my 2 cents worth.......

Hin=him

it was around the 7th that I had spoken with my mother and it was the 21st that I got the dreadful call after trying to call for 9 hours. The forum wouldn't let me go in and edit so I wanted to clarify.

He's working -- this is his busiest time of the year right now.

He posted at DAZ that he would be somewhat incommunicado.

Quote - He posted at DAZ that he would be somewhat incommunicado.

Can you point me to the thread, please?  Thank you for the information!  I'll certainly leave him be if he's busy, but I'm oh so grateful he's alive and well!

Sincerely,

Bill

I must say. I am disappointed.

I was hoping to hear that LD was in Cancun having the time of his life with the person he loves.

Oh well, maybe next time.

I drink to Little Dragon. May he live forever!

Much happiness, Sir.

Q

I don't know if you remember, quixote, but after the Den was shut down Joerg Weber was among those of us that had migrated over the Cheryle's place. He signed up but didn't post for a long time. I finally got a little concerned and did some checking and found out he had a web site. On it was posted that he'd passed away. His birthday had been just a few days after he'd signed on at Cheryle's and he passed away about 2 days later. He was still young (I beleive early 40s) and there was no indication of what he'd died of. I told jumpstartme2 about that and I think she mentioned it to the rest of ya'll. That was too bad. He was a real decent guy. I have a client in his 80's with health problems. If I don't hear from him for a while (a month or two) I'll give him a call just to say "hi." I would never give his number out - that would clearly be a breach of his privacy, but I have a good enough relationship with him that I can call him. He smiles at me and tells me he's doing OK. I know he appreciates that he's cared about. As involved as Little Dragon has been around here, I'd hope there was at least someone on staff that had that kind of relationship with him. I'm glad he's OK. ;-)

Quote - I don't know if you remember, quixote, but after the Den was shut down Joerg Weber was among those of us that had migrated over the Cheryle's place. He signed up but didn't post for a long time. I finally got a little concerned and did some checking and found out he had a web site. On it was posted that he'd passed away. His birthday had been just a few days after he'd signed on at Cheryle's and he passed away about 2 days later. He was still young (I beleive early 40s) and there was no indication of what he'd died of. I told jumpstartme2 about that and I think she mentioned it to the rest of ya'll. That was too bad. He was a real decent guy. I have a client in his 80's with health problems. If I don't hear from him for a while (a month or two) I'll give him a call just to say "hi." I would never give his number out - that would clearly be a breach of his privacy, but I have a good enough relationship with him that I can call him. He smiles at me and tells me he's doing OK. I know he appreciates that he's cared about. As involved as Little Dragon has been around here, I'd hope there was at least someone on staff that had that kind of relationship with him. I'm glad he's OK. ;-)

Yes bobasaur, that is exactly what I was trying to say......just to show some concern. My mom was quite young when she passed.......just 59 and my dad passed away young also....just 49, and both was very unexpected......life can be so unfair and unpredictable.......heck if it was predictable....we all would of come with manuals......like our poser people. :-) I am glad to hear that LD is doing well and I look forward to meeting him once he is able to log back on to the forums.

Well, as stated earlier in this thread. If you want someone to call you if you disappear, it's best that you appoint that person yourself.

This very thread is a fine example of a lot of people panicing about nothing since he posted elsewhere that he would be pretty busy for a while. My suggestion is if you know someone here you feel that strongly about, maybe ask them if you can check up on them if they dissappear BEFORE they actually do.

No offense to anyone here, but if I dissappear and am dead, I don't want my mom having to deal with calls from strangers on every website I participate in. That's not a possibility that I'm making up either since I do have a life threatening illness. The thing is, so does she and she doesn't need the stress.

We can all banter examples and stories back and forth on both sides of the debate. It Simply does come down to respecting people's privacy if they haven't made other arrangements and you don't know them that well.

I remember  Joerg. I also remember you spreading ugly speculations about him getting drunk on his birthday and dying in a stupor or a car accident.

So please spare me your usual sanctimonious scatological load.

WAB

You asked a question and then answered it yourself.

You want to call to enquire about somebody? by all means, do so.

You can't get to the necessary information because of a privacy policy?

You can try the courts or the cops to get to it. It's as simple as that.

You've done it before, so do it. Follow procedure.

End of story. I'm out of here.

WTF?????????

Any news?

Quote - Any news?

None.

I never could find the DAZ forum thread Ynsaen mentioned.  Since I couldn't, I finally opted to mail a traditional letter on Wednesday, April 26.  I addressed it so that if family or friends were retrieving Little Dragon's mail, they'd know they could open it and read the contents.  I provided four methods of contact, postal address, e-mail address and both my domestic and business phone numbers.

I do know his P.O. Box is currently being used.  I researched the phone number for the post office where his box is located and called it.  The postal clerk did admit the box was being used, but for privacy, obviously, he could not state the identity of the rentee.  It is possible that particular box has been rented to someone else.

At this point, there is little more I can do (that is "kosher") than wait for his return or a reply from his family and/or friends.

Sincerely,

Bill

Great, Redfern. At least someone is doing SOMETHING. :o)

I hope Ynsaen is right and that he's just busy, but I'd like to make sure.

Can you please post when you know something?

Speaking of missing people. Any further news on Mec4D?  There was a fire in her house and she lost everything!  Anyone know how she is getting along?

Also, Cooler up and vanished from here last year.  Someone had said he was sick.  Any news about him?

I thought Mec4D was Catherina?  Am I confusing two screen names?  In any case that's horrible ... what happened?

-Tim

I remember Joerg..held the Left together in the OT forum..intelligent, insightful, deadly in a debate..we didn't agree on a single thing, but I never did find out how he went.

I think if Little Dragon's busy, I'll wait until he shows up again. Some folks get into a web site a bit too much at times (I should talk..;), but hang in there..

Mec4D's real name is Catharina, but I don't recall her using that as a screen name here.

Any word?