Friday, October 3, 2008

Fatal Error

As part of a novel I'm writing, I'm researching care-giving and end-of-life issues. BeyondIndigo.com has turned out to be an excellent resource for this.

The site supports individuals either caring for someone with terminal illness or recovering from their death. Understandably, one often becomes the other.

Reading the message boards, where husbands and wives and children pour out their fears and frustrations, it's obvious the site has become the hub of a close-knit community and is helping a lot of people come to terms with their grief.

Unfortunately, the site is undergoing some renovations, and when I clicked on the Funerals topic, I got the error message pictured above. Click on the photo to see if for yourself.

I'm sure no one at BeyondIndigo.com purposefully worded the error message in just that way, or chose to pair it with what is obviously intended to be the main page graphic. They're probably not even aware users are getting this message.

But given the site's purpose in general, and the topic I clicked on specifically, it struck me as one of those rare so-awful-it's-funny things. Almost.

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