Email
 
Question:
Avatar

What happens to your e-mail when you die?

By keithold thanks all baggers Asked Nov 3 2009 9:04PM
35
Pts
 
 
Rate Question
Answer Question Help someone!
Get the latest questions in Email
flag

Welcome to Answerbag, a community of people sharing what they know.
Sign up now to ask a question or help someone else by giving an answer!

signup now
Sort answers by: Rating | DateArrow Down
 

Top Answer out of 11

by FadingxSmiles on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:07 pm Permalink

Avatar
It follows you into the afterlife where you are then harassed by "Want your life back?" and "You've just won 10 more years! Claim your prize now!" spam.
22
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar keithold thanks all baggers Nov, 03 2009 at 09:13 PM
Damn, FadingxSmiles.

Answer 2 out of 11

by malevolentbutticklis on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:07 pm Permalink

Avatar
Your relatives inherit the inbox and they decide what should happen. Often they ignore or close the account. Other times they will respond and let people know.
18
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar keithold thanks all baggers Nov, 03 2009 at 09:14 PM
Thanks mb for the info.
Avatar Slightly less anonymous Nov, 04 2009 at 11:59 PM
legally maybe, but most often relatives don't know that accounts necessarily exist, or they might know they exist, but not how to access them.
 
they may purposefully ignore the account, or close it out, but most often, relatives just don't know, and the account either shuts down from lack of use, or if it's on a server that doesn't care about lack of use, stays there, in perpetuity, until something changes with the server

Answer 3 out of 11

by king of pain is serious but Sexy on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:05 pm Permalink

Avatar
The e-mail angel deletes it for you.:)
15
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar Sally-Rae Nov, 03 2009 at 09:11 PM
Really?
Avatar keithold thanks all baggers Nov, 03 2009 at 09:14 PM
That's handy, king.
Avatar king of pain is serious but Sexy Nov, 03 2009 at 09:16 PM
Sure,because it all goes into a folder for the deceased!;)
Thanks,Keithhold!:)

Answer 4 out of 11

by Legend of my mind on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:08 pm Permalink

Avatar
The address changes from name@host.com to name@host.god
12
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar keithold thanks all baggers Nov, 03 2009 at 09:13 PM
thanks Anonymous. God goes high tech. :>)
Avatar Slightly less anonymous Nov, 05 2009 at 12:01 AM
follow-up: god gets a virus.

Answer 5 out of 11

by Earth Dragon on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:08 pm Permalink

Avatar
It gets bloated with spam...
12
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar keithold thanks all baggers Nov, 03 2009 at 09:13 PM
As always Earth Type.

Answer 6 out of 11

by HasntBeen on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:19 pm Permalink

Avatar
The good emails go to heaven, the bad go to the spam folder (Hell). Those with both good and bad get left in the inbox for eternity... forever living with no real destination, no tags, no folders, no replies.

It's sad, it really is. I hear their lonely cries all night long.
10
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar SoulSearcher Nov, 03 2009 at 09:21 PM
Damn, that was better than what I was going to say! +5

Answer 7 out of 11

by Tania Lue on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:15 pm Permalink

Avatar
It becomes inactive and eventually its contents are erased for lack of use.
It can also happen that a family member will take your account and upon "fake" wishes of what you would have liked to do, they invade your facebook (from which they now have control through your e-mail) and start e-mailing people, accepting friends (that you would have never accepted) and ruin the image of who you are into what they think "you would have liked".

It's a real story. It happened to a best friend of mine. He died and his father took his account and decided to live his son's life. It was sad in more than one way.
8
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar HasntBeen Nov, 03 2009 at 09:18 PM
How strange is that? I'm glad I lock my PC when I walk away :)

Answer 8 out of 11

by Suby the Coat on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:33 pm Permalink

Avatar
Nothing. But does it really matter after one has died?
5
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments
Avatar SoulSearcher Nov, 03 2009 at 09:36 PM
+5
Avatar Suby the Coat Nov, 03 2009 at 10:28 PM
lol. What a question!

Answer 9 out of 11

by RANDOM on Nov 3, 2009 at 9:15 pm Permalink

Avatar
i think i might change my will and take it with me when i go ,as i know it is going to be hot down there ,and i want to order some air conditioning online and my provider is always got specials on so my Email address i will need .+5
5
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments (be the first to comment)

Answer 10 out of 11

by Slightly less anonymous on Nov 4, 2009 at 10:40 pm Permalink

Avatar
it depends:


if you die and your relatives have access, they can save everything, close it down, whatever. pretend to be you in their quest to steal their identity, whatever

if you die and it's a paid account, presumably once dead you stop paying your bills and your either lose some services or the account altogether

if you die and you have a webmail account using a server that requires you to log in every so often in order to keep the account, once dead, you'll stop logging in, your account will close, and after a certain period of time, generally the name is available for recycling

if you die and you have a webmail account using a server that does not require you to log in every so often to keep the account, the account just stays there. at some point you might max out your server space, but well, the account stays active until the server goes out of business or catches on that you haven't logged in in 100 years

POP accounts--anything you've downloaded--well your computer doesn't know you've died, so it'a all still there. family or whoever your things are left to might read through it, or not (you can always password protect it if you want to take your e-mail secrets to the grave).

basically, the e-mail account lives on, until terminated, the e-mails live on until deleted, unless they are on your harddrive, in which case, if no one uses the computer, and it's just saved, your computer, with your files and emails still intact could be sold at a garage sale a few hundred years from now. some families are like that, they just keep things in the attic, because they plan to use them, then they're outdated but don't go through it, then it's a generation later and that's what they have of their family history and then a few generations later, someone goes into the attic, and says, "we could make a fortune off of this old crap. I wonder what distant relative it belonged to"


but, I don't think it will really matter to you, you'll be dead...you'll have more pressing issues
4
Pts
 
 
Rate Answer
 
flag
Comments (be the first to comment)


Add an Answer

What happens to your e-mail when you die?

How to write a good answer
Your answer:

Display answer in fixed-width font (good for tables or text diagrams)

Answers must adhere to our Terms of Use

To create links, just type the address with no HTML code. Use the Preview button at the bottom to verify.

You can edit your answer at any time.

Add Video Add Iimage


Important: Answerbag cannot guarantee the accuracy of answers submitted by members, and we recommend that you use common sense when following any advice found here. Read full disclaimer.